


Among the Stars

by caseyd1a



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-01-23 00:30:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 37,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12494360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caseyd1a/pseuds/caseyd1a
Summary: Zoro had finally gotten off planet. He had felt he had been needing a change for quite sometime. He had managed to get a job as a trainer aboard the Star Cruiser named the Sunny. His first day he runs into a rude blonde. Zoro was just trying to report to the gym!//Sanji just wanted to get through another day. Running the staff galley was stressful enough with out green-haired losers running into him.





	1. Chapter 1

Gotta get to deck 4 and start prepping for breakfast. Sanji picked up his pace as he navigated through the too small hallways. They really did try to stuff as many staff quarters on the lower decks as possible. It took a lot of manpower to keep the Sunny running. After all it was an exodus class space cruise liner. Sanji finally made it to the ladder well and wished he was allowed to use the damn elevator. He climbed the stairs. The chef quarters were on the 0-10 level. Nothing like a 14 story climb to get your blood pumping first thing in the morning. He had made it up to deck 1 and was about to keep heading up when the door flung open nearly hitting him. 

“What the-” Uh oh he had lost his balance. That was the last thing he needed right now! A strong pair of hands grabbed Sanji’s lapel.

“Watch out. You could fall and hurt yourself like that.”

Sanji stared at the man. First looking at his hand wrinkling Sanji’s outfit he had spent extra time ironing so maybe he would get tipped a bit more. “ Let-tch! GO!” Sanji swatted the man’s hand off of his jacket. Then looking at the rest of the man. He had tan skin which was a rarity if you were staff. Grey eyes met Sanji’s.

“Hey I just saved your ass. You could say thank you.” Sanji continued to let his eyes take in the man’s appearance.

“I wouldn’t have needed saving if you had opened the hatch like a normal human being!” The man had a sweatpants on and a t-shirt with the Sunny’s insignia on it. He was a trainer. Likely ran classes. No wonder the guy was so muscular. What was he even doing on this level? The gyms were on the 0-2 level. Wait a second… “ I didn’t need saving anyway! I would have managed fine on my own!”

“Didn’t seem like it to me princess! Whatever” The green haired man crossed his arms. Green hair..? What the hell? Maybe he was a hybrid like Luffy. It didn’t look dyed. You couldn’t see any other color at the roots. “I was just trying to find my way to the gyms.” He scratched his head and looked at the diagram on the wall. “Oi cook, Do you know how to get there? I am supposed to teach a kendo class in an hour but, I keep ending up in the wrong area of this ship.” The man huffed in annoyance.

Sanji was caught off guard for moment. How could this moss head know he was a cook? Then he remembered what he was wearing. “I have a name first of all. Second of all you idiot, you just go down these stairs until you reach the 0-2 level. Clearly indicated by the big 0 dash 2 on the wall.”

“Huh but we are on 1 right now… I AM NOT AN IDIOT!” The man’s temper flared “Listen you shitty cook! I don’t need your help after all!”

 

“Shitty cook? You would die of pleasure if my food EVER graced your mouth!” Sanji was leaning towards the man and before he thought about what he was doing he had kicked the man down a set of stairs.

The man stood up shaking with rage now but, Sanji had the high ground so he wasn’t worried about the guy getting him back. “YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT SHIT COOK!”

Just as he was making his way back up the stairs after Sanji a woman burst through the same door the moss head had moments before effectively pushing Sanji Down the stairs on top of the moss head.

“Get the f-” The green haired man spat.

“You get off ME!” The two men wrestled to be free of the other.

“SHUT UP ALREADY” Both men looked up the flight of stairs at a orange haired woman.

“NAMI-SWAN~!” Sanji shouted as his eyes caressed every curve of Nami is that revealing uniform.

“What part of shut up don’t you understand Sanji? You are disturbing guests with all your racket.”

“Yes my dear but, you see this brute nearly pushed me down the stairs-” Sanji started as he struggled to untangle himself so he could be near his love.

“I don’t care. Hush and hurry up you’ve got like 10 minutes before you’re late and you know how Zeff gets when people are late to their shift.” Like Sanji had a shift. He scoffed mentally. He was there from breakfast all the way to midrats. It was his job to ensure everyone’s dietary needs were met and satisfied. He occasionally cooked for the guests but, he was head of the kitchen that took care of the staff. But, his sweet Nami had a point he did need to get going. Zeff would be upset if he was late. Zeff being head chef of the entire ship was usually upset anyway. He shoved the other man off of him and bounced up the stairs to his darling.

“Thank you my love what would I do without you.” She snatched her hand, that he had somehow ensnared, away from him.

“GO!” She shouted taking on a almost monster like appearance  
.  
“As you wish my love.” And with that he was off to the galley.

~~~~~~~  
“What a freak…” Zoro groaned rubbing the back of his head that had been knocked against the wall not once but twice now because of that damn cook.

“He’s not all bad once you get to know him.” The woman that other man had called Nami stated as she stared after the strange blonde.

“You only say that because he practically worships you.” That much was apparent from the brief interaction Zoro had managed to witness.

“Oh there no practically about it. He does but, it's become something I’ve grown to expect from him. I’m Nami by the way. I am a navigator. You are…?”

“Zoro. Physical Instructor.” He stated trying to be as stoic as he could manage.

“A physical instructor? What are you doing up here? Are you lost?” She snickered. “There are maps EVERYWHERE and everything is numbered how are you lost?”

She was no more help than the damn cook. Witch. “Nevermind I’ll figure it out on my own.” He brushed off his sweat pants and started up towards her.

“You need to go down. To the 0-2….Actually come to think of it...are you new staff?”

“Yes.” He crossed his arms.

“Hold on one second.” She pulled some sort of communicator out of her pocket. “Luffy are you busy?” She said a wicked smile growing on her face as she maintained eye contact with Zoro.

“I’m never busy, you know that Nami. But, Sanji is about to cook breakfast meat ….” He could hear the boy drooling through the communicator.

“Okay I just thought you might like to meet a new person…” Nami was clearly trying to sound nonchalant.

“A NEW PERSON! shit Luffy what the hell are you-GIVE THAT BACK IT'S NOT COOKED ALL THEWA-” Zoro could hear the shit cooks voice along with some crashing and this Luffy through the communicator Nami was holding. Zoro smiled at the thought. At least someone was giving that bastard chef a rough time.

“NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-” The shouting was coming from the communicator but, soon began to echo in the ladder well until a young, raven haired boy apeared; sliding down the railing until he nearly tackled Nami. She moved in the nick of time and he ran into the metal wall. Zoro flinched at the thud the boy had made with his head and the wall.  
“Nami where-” She just pointed at Zoro the young man's excited gaze turned towards Zoro and he wasn’t sure he wanted the attention. This boy looked a bit deranged. Hair unkempt and shoved under a straw hat. Torn shorts that were once a part of a uniform as well as a tank top that also appeared to have once been an actual uniform shirt.

“Luffy he needs to go to the gym deck. He’s a physical instructor so you two will probably be getting to know each other pretty well.”

Zoro’s eye brows knit together. It didn’t look like this kid was a gym instructor. He was too lean. Zoro eyed him closer. The kids skin was pink and almost translucent. Come to think of it…. that high speed run into the wall should have knocked him out. Nami must have sensed Zoro’s confusion. 

“Zoro this is Luffy. He’s part alien but, we aren’t really sure what kind. He’s a ‘fun boss’ here on the Sunny.” 

“A fun boss?” This woman had to be messing with Zoro. I mean yeah he wasn’t the smartest but, he still had a brain.

“Yeah him and a select few others come up with activities for passengers when we are on a particularly long stretch. Anyway, I have to go do real work. Luffy take him to the gym and in a timely manner please.” She added “Not everyone has as much leeway with their jobs as you do.” With that she exited through the hatch she had come through.

“Isn’t Nami fun?” The boy said smiling ear to ear.

“I don’t think fun is the first word I would use to describe that woman.” Zoro started up the stairs for a third time.

“Are you ready to go to the gym?” Luffy noted more than asked.

“Yeah I’ve been trying to get there all morning.” Zoro groaned.

“Follow me I will get you there quick.”

The boy grabbed Zoro’s hand and went up to the second deck and through the hatch into the main hallway. Luffy grabbed his communicator and spoke into it as they weaved around the hallways making what seemed to Zoro random turns. “Oi! Franky”

“What is it Luffy? I’m in the middle of something right now.”

“I want to try it now.”

“Now?...eeeehhhhh” The man on the other end of the communicator pausing for a minute “okay SUPER activating the chutes! What level?”

“Deck 2 to 0-2”

“That’s a long way to go. Are you sure?” 

“Yeah Nami told me to take Zoro there.”

“Who? Nevermind if he’s with you I’ll meet’em.”

Luffy rounded one more corner and pulled open a hatch leading to what was just a dark metal tube that went down. 

“Shishishishi” His shoulders shook as he chuckled excitedly. Zoro did not like where this was going. “Tell me when the chute system is ready FRANKY!” Luffy shouted excitedly into the communicator

“Just a couple more-” The rest of the sentence was muffled.

“What the hell are you doing?!” The boy’s arms had stretched and wrapped Zoro a few times and the boy was pulling him into the small metal tube. The man on the communicator hadn’t even said it was ready! All of a sudden Zoro was falling. He slammed into the metal at every turn. He was pretty sure he was screaming his head off but, the boy was just laughing.


	2. CH 2

This deranged kid was just laughing the whole time. Zoro could not believe it. After crashing and making what had to be the 9th turn in this damn chute Zoro could see fast approaching light and then they landed on the floor in some unknown hallway with the boy still wrapped around Zoro.

"Get off me! We've stopped. Where the hell are we?!" Zoro struggled until the boy loosened his arms.

"We are on the 0-2 level. With …the …gyms?" The boy looked around scratching his head quizzically. "Ehhhhhh no we aren't. We are on the 0-5? Why are we here?"

Zoro had had enough he looked at his watch. Ahhhhhhhhh shit! SHIT! He was going to be late. He still needed to set up and warm up before his students got to class and he was down to a half an hour. He decided he'd had enough shenanigans as he went to walk away but, the boy grabbed his wrist.

"Where are you going, Zah- hmmmm Zoh… ZOLO?!" The boy clearly couldn't remember his name but, at least he had tried.

"It's Zoro and I. Have. To. Get. To. The. Gym! I can't be late. It's my first class on this ship!" Zoro had his fists grabbing his hair. He was so stressed out right now.

Luffy's expression turned a bit more serious at this point. Serious looked odd on his face. He seemed like he was the one who always found a reason to smile.  
"I'll get you there I promise." Luffy stated with conviction as he began pulling Zoro behind him again.

Making more turns than they had made on the second deck they made it back to the ladder well. Luffy dragged him up the stairs where they popped out on the 0-2.

"Finally." Zoro said with some relief. He could smell the sweat as soon as they came out of the hatch. This was home to Zoro. It didn't really matter what gym. Any gym felt like home to him. It was a place he could be at peace.

It wasn't that Zoro didn't think when he was working out it was just that he could process things better when he was. Zoro had been at the gym when he had decided that he was finally going to leave his home world and see the galaxy. He had been feeling that he needed a change for a long time before that he just didn't know what. It had been in the clarity of toning his body that he realized it was time for him to move on. After he made the decision to get off world, the rest of it had been easy; finding this job, packing up, and saying good bye to the man who had taught Zoro how to be a man.

Zoro smiled for the first time that day and looked at Luffy. "Thank you for getting me here. I should be fine now."

Luffy returned his smile. "Any time!" Luffy squinted at Zoro clearly attempting to think about something. "I'll come get you for lunch." It wasn't a question. He had already made the decision.

"That's not nec-" Zoro was cut off. The boy held up his hand clearly gesturing for Zoro to forget the words in his mouth.

"It's okay. We're friends."

_____  
Sanji had a love-hate relationship with being in charge of this kitchen. The people who worked under him were skilled but, they were all assholes. Sanji wondered if on other ships the kitchens were like this or he was just blessed with bad luck.

"C'mon hurry up you bastards! The lunch rush starts in a half an hour." A few men grumbled the rest focused on what they were doing.

The new kid in the kitchen seemed to be moving in slow motion as he tripped on his shoe lace and nearly spilled the large pot of curry he was carrying. Sanji had managed to catch the pot with his hands and keep the gangly boy from falling by stopping him with a leg to the chest.

"What's your name kid?" Sanji didn't make eye contact with him yet as the boy straightened himself out.

"Tajio." The boy nearly whispered finally meeting Sanji's visible eye and sensing the trouble he was about to be in.

"Well Tajio, the good news is that we didn't waste any food. Not only does this food help keep the morale among the staff on this ship but, it provides nourishment so they can keep working hard at their jobs." Some of the other cooks in the kitchen had turned from their work to listen to the lecture. The ones who had been there the longest with Sanji didn't. They knew better than to get involved with where this was going. "If you had wasted any of this precious curry I would have had to kick your ass. In this kitchen we DO NOT waste food. If this curry HAD ended up on the floor guess what you and I would have eaten today?" He paused letting it sink in that the kitchen staff would have eaten floor curry for lunch and dinner and maybe even midrats if there was still some left over. It's not that Sanji wanted the boy to be scared or anything but, almost everyone who ends up in this kitchen gets this lecture at some point. Sanji knew what real hunger was though and it was important to him that nothing be wasted.

The boy could feel glaring eyes all around the kitchen on him. That was enough to let him know that chef Sanji wasn't bluffing. "I won't let it happen ag-again. I promise chef."

"Then start by tying your shoe laces in a double knot." Sanji set the pot of curry on the counter. Then he proceeded to dip a finger into it to get a taste. Something was off about it. Sanji grabbed a teaspoon of salt and stirred it into the curry and tasted it again. That seemed to do the trick. The kid had finished double knotting his shoes and was now facing Sanji. Sanji handed the pot back to the boy who looked more determined than before. "Be careful this time."

The boy walked away with the pot towards the chow line. Sanji needed a break. He went to the back of the kitchen where the 'out' vent was. In every space on this ship there was a vent that blew air in and another that sucked it out. Sanji had traded in his pack of cigarettes and lighter when he decided to take this job. Now all he had was an electronic contraption that vaporized flavored liquid. Water vapor was a lot less harmful than smoke in regards to the air filtering system. Sanji still didn't like it as much as his cigarettes but, he still got that relieving rush of nicotine in his system. Sanji was just starting to relax when there was knocking or rather banging sound on the hatch closest to him. He smiled to himself. He was so glad he had insisted upon restricted access to the kitchen area and people couldn't just waltz in here anymore. Sanji opened the door to two men arguing. He recognized both.

"Luffy I'm not an expert but, I don't think this where we are supposed to get –" Zoro stopped upon laying eyes on that damn cook.

"Trust me Zoro I get food here all the time." Luffy said clearly not recognizing the tension between the two men.

Zoro was the first to break the silence that had fallen. "YOU! I'm gonna kick your ass!" He said stepping towards the cook.

"I'd like to see you try moss head." Sanji said with a smirk. Sanji absent mindedly swishing his blonde bangs out of his eye.

"MOSS HEAD?! That's rich coming from you curly brow!" Zoro lashed out.

Luffy placed a hand on both of the men's shoulders still smiling. "Oh, so you guys have already met. Good." He turned to Sanji. "Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiii! I'm hungryyyyyyyyy." Luffy said it long and drawn out like a child even pulling his face into a pout for good measure.

The cook broke eye contact with Zoro to look at Luffy. "Well get in line in the galley like everyone else." He took a drag out of his e-cigarette.

"But, Sanji come ooooooooooooonnnnn!" Luffy knew if he kept on Sanji would cave. As tough as Sanji was he couldn't say no to someone asking for food. " Please? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeee. Please please please please please" Luffy continued. "Please I told Zoro how good your food was if we have to wait in line how will he know if it's your food or one of the other cooks? Please please please please please."

Zoro crossed his arms. "I'd rather starve than eat his shit food anyway." Zoro could tell by the look on the cook's face that statement had struck a nerve. Good.

How dare this bastard say he'd rather starve. He probably didn't even know what it meant to starve. Sanji was going to kick his ass into oblivion! No. Sanji stopped himself for a moment. He'd make this idiot sorry in the best kind of way. Sanji would cook such good food that algae for brains would think about his food all the time.

Sanji straightened out his stance and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Fine Luffy I'll cook you guys something. " Sanji turned moving to let both men into the room. "You guys can wait in the break room." He said without looking at them. What to make them? What would Sanji use to blow that asshole's mind?

Sometime later, Sanji walked out holding a tray of onigiri. The marimo didn't look impressed. In fact he looked smug when he recognized the simple dish. Simple dish my ass. One of Sanji's favorite things about cooking is how a 'simple' dish could blow someone away if cooked properly. He set down the tray on the table and Luffy immediately started scarfing down the food. The trainer picked one up eyeing it and then Sanji; likely trying to decide if Sanji had decided to poison him. He must have decided it wasn't poisoned because he took a bite. His eyes went wide and he started to shovel the food down his throat at nearly the same pace as Luffy. Sanji felt a smug smile cross his face.  
_____

You had to be kidding! When Zoro had bit into that first onigiri he did not expect this. It was the best food Zoro had ever tasted. He couldn't get enough of it! The other thing he couldn't believe was how much Luffy was managing to shove into his mouth. Zoro wasn't sure if the boy was swallowing so much as directly shoving the food down his throat. After the tray was empty Zoro sat back in his chair. The cook had walked out of the room a while ago.

"See? What did I tell you? Sanji's food is the best." The boy had small bump resembling a pregnant woman's stomach. That did not seem natural.

Zoro looked around to try to see if the cook was in earshot. He didn't seem to be. "You were right." Zoro grumbled.

Luffy went on for a while about how much he loved food and how much more he loved Sanji's food for a while. Sanji came back into the room a time later with what looked like high tech lunch boxes.

"Luffy make yourself useful. I need you to take these to my sweet Nami and lovely Robin."

Zoro counted six lunch boxes. "Do two women really eat that much food?" Zoro wondered out loud.

"Luffy knows who the rest are for." With that Sanji started to leave the room again.

"Wait Sanji! Can I have one to take to Traffy? You know he won't come up here to eat until midrats."

The cook paused for a moment to think. "Yeah give me a minute." He finally answered.

Geez. That was dramatic. Zoro's eyes moved back to Luffy, who looked ecstatic about the prospect of bringing this person food.

Luffy looked at Zoro while bouncing excitedly in his chair. "You'll come with me right?"

Zoro sighed. He'd rather be in the gym in his free time than running around the ship playing delivery boy with Luffy but, Zoro felt somewhat indebted to Luffy for his help today. Even if that help was unorthodox. Zoro didn't have to teach another class until after dinner. "Yeah, I'll go with you I guess."

The cook came back out and added another lunch box to the stack. "Here. Don't even think about trying to break into these before they are delivered, Luffy. You know they need a bio-metric scan from the intended recipient to be opened."

Luffy pouted like a child. "I know."

"So get a move on. People are waiting for their food." The cook left the room again not even looking towards Zoro in the slightest. Zoro did not think that cook should be giving anyone orders but, he didn't say anything.

Luffy grabbed four lunch boxes and let Zoro carry the other three as they left through the back door of the galley. Zoro was lost in his own thoughts as Luffy babbled about the people they would be delivering food to.

That had been some of the best food he had ever eaten. He had called that man a shitty cook. Zoro felt not angry…. embarrassed by his earlier actions. Zoro should swallow his pride and apologize to the blonde for his insults; at least those pertaining to his cooking. Zoro's mouth watered at the thought of that onigiri. It had been so good. The cook knew Zoro was eating his own words. Zoro had caught that smug smile from the cook. His beautiful blue eye falling on Zoro as Zoro had his first taste. Beautiful?! Zoro needed to stop. That is not what he had left home for.

Zoro followed Luffy up to the bridge for their first delivery. That witch was there plotting a course on some 3-D map of the stars. There was a lot going on in this room. Lots of displays, buttons, and levers. It was almost overwhelming. By far the most impressive thing was the view out of the 360 window. The view of the stars and planets was absolutely incredible. Zoro hadn't ever seen anything like it in his life. THIS is why he had left home.

"LUFFY DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT!"


	3. CH 3

Zoro continued to grumble about how the witch had shoved them out the door after Luffy touched one of the many buttons in the bridge.

“Don’t be mad Zoro now you get to meet the rest of our friends!” Luffy smiled over his shoulder at Zoro. “We’ll go visit Franky and Usopp!”

Franky? Zoro tried to figure out where he had heard the name before as he followed Luffy into the ladder well. They went down two decks and came back out and made what seemed like an unnecessary amount of turns until they reached the hatch to another chute.

“Franky! Take us to you!” Luffy was yelling into his communicator. That’s where Zoro had heard that name. Oh no. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh no.

“Luffy! If you think I am going to follow you into that thing again you are crazy!” Zoro started to walk away but, Luffy had wrapped his hand around Zoro’s bicep.

“Awwwwwww come on Zoro?!” Luffy looked at him with puppy dog eyes and Zoro tried not to cave.

“Ehhhhh Luffy I can’t right now we are in the middle of rerouting some of the thrusters and besides that I can’t let you take a twenty three story drop through the chute system. It’s too risky.” Franky explained through the communicator. 

Zoro breathed a sigh of relief while Luffy pouted in disappointment.

“Oi, Luffy.” Oh great the cook’s voice was coming from the communicator now. “I can see you delivered the food to my beautiful Nami now, what about my lovely Robin? I don’t want her to think I’ve forgotten.”

“Sanji,” A calm female voice came from the communicator now “ I am waiting on my food you know.” She chuckled softly. “I’m glad that Franky told Luffy no otherwise he and the new comer surely would have been beaten to death in those terrible chutes picking up speed until they became puddles at the bottom.”

Geez.How morbid. At least Zoro knew the communicators worked more like radios than phones now though. He can avoid a lot of embarrassment in the long run that way.

“Okay we are on our way to Robin but, I wanna ride in the chutes later!” Luffy yelled into the communicator before shoving it into his pocket and moving in some random pattern that eventually brought them back to the ladder well. They only went down one floor and came back out. 

They went down a long hallway only to come to two very large wooden doors. Zoro thought this was odd because almost everything on this ship was metal. What use would they have in space for wooden doors. Luffy opened the door to a room filled with…. Were those actual books?

Zoro hadn’t seen paper books since well ever. He had only seen pictures. Everything was digital now. It smelled strange in this room. Luffy walked up to a work area in the middle of the room and set down his stack of lunch boxes.

He took a deep breath in and cupped his hands around his mouth. “ROOOOOOOBBBBBBIIINNNN FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!”

Zoro heard the chuckle before he saw the dark haired woman. She seemed older than the witch. “Thank you Luffy. Law is here too if you wanted to give him his lunch as well.” She looked at Zoro. “You must be the green haired man Sanji was grumbling about during breakfast. I’m Robin. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Zoro. I’m a trainer.” Zoro only met her gaze momentarily then his eyes wandered around the space of actual books.

“Many people are amazed by the collection aboard the Sunny when they first see it.” Only when she finished did Zoro really process she was talking to him.

“Uh yeah. Pretty cool I guess.” Zoro felt awkward under her gaze. He realized Luffy had disappeared.

“It’s okay. He just went to give his boyfriend his lunch.” She stated as she went to sit at the table with her lunch. Zoro observed as she placed a slender hand on the side of the lunch box. It scanned her hand and beeped. Robin pulled the lid open and a smirk crossed her face.

Zoro looked at the inside of the lunch box and everything had been shaped like hearts that could have been. Zoro scoffed. Dumb cook. It was clear the cook was trying to win the affections of these women. Zoro didn’t really understand it when the women clearly only found the advances amusing at best. Wasted effort and actions. Two of Zoro’s least favorite things.

“Luffy hush. This is a quiet place. Go finish your errand and I will meet you for dinner.” Zoro could hear a deep voice around the corner but, he didn’t move to see who it was.

“Promise?” Zoro could hear Luffy pouting

“I promise.” The mystery man muttered. “Now get off of me and go!”

Luffy walked around the corner smiling wildly. “Let’s go Zoro!” He had grabbed the trainer's hand and the remaining lunch boxes and ran out of the archive.  
They flew down the ladder well almost running into a couple of people. They came out on a level marked 0-3. Zoro could see the symbol marking that the infirmaries were on this level.  
Just as Zoro was wondering why they would ever need to be on this level Luffy’s communicator started buzzing.

“Luffy I’m starving but, you don’t need to deliver Brook’s lunch to the main stage any more. He’s here with me.”

“Okay Chopper we are just around the corner.” Luffy’s pace quickened the only sound being the distinct clack of Luffy’s sandals. They came around the corner and there was some large hairy monster wrapping a bandage around what appeared to be a skeleton.

“What the hell?” Zoro let slip out.

“Chopper, Brook this is Zoro. Zoro these are Chopper and Brook.” Luffy said managing to pull all of their hands together in a strange handshake.

“Pleased to meet you, Zoro.” The skeleton spoke much to Zoro’s disbelief. “It’s going tibia okay. Get it? Tibia.” The skeleton pointed at his shin bone. “Yohoho~”

Zoro didn’t really get it and it was clear neither did Luffy but, the fur covered monster was clearly trying to hold back a laugh at the poor joke. Just then the large creature shrunk down into what looked like some sort of racoon. His hands becoming hooves.

After the now small doctor collected himself he looked up at Zoro. “It is nice to meet you. I am Doctor Tony Tony Chopper but, you can just call me Chopper. Feel free to come by if there is EVER anything wrong.”

“I doubt I will ever come back to this place after today. I don’t like infirmaries . My body heals itself just fine.” He had crossed his arms by the end of his statement then looked down at the small doctor who looked heart broken for only a moment before a look of determination crept onto his face. Zoro could tell words were building in the small creature.

“You listen to me. This here is my job. I am proud of it and I do it well. You will come to me if you are injured or sick no questions asked. If I find out you didn’t come and you should have I- I’ll-”

“It’s okay Chopper. Zoro will come to you just like the rest of us.” Luffy placed a hand on Chopper’s shoulder then smiled “Besides why wouldn’t someone come to an amazing doctor like you?”

“Oh shut up you bastard it’s not like saying that will make me happy.” Chopper uttered while wiggling his body and beaming his smile towards Luffy.

Zoro cleared his throat. “ Yeah uh we brought your lunches by the way.”

“Oh why thank you.” The skeleton expressed gratuitously. 

“Thank you. We will eat once I am finished treating Brook’s head injury.”

“How’d you hurt your head?” Zoro inquired.

The skeleton seemed to blush even though Zoro knew that was impossible.

“Who cares we have to take these to Franky and Usopp.” Luffy latched onto Zoro’s arm dragging him away with the two remaining lunch boxes. “Then I can go see Traffy because I finished my errands.”

_______________

Sanji couldn’t help but smile. Maybe decadent Jessica did care about him. Besides that she was one of the only chef’s he trusted to run the kitchen in his stead. She was a capable chef who ruled with an iron fist. Much like Sanji she understood how important their role was on this ship.

Jessica had insisted she take over supervising the kitchen for at least one meal so Sanji could have a proper break. Sanji made his way down to his quarters so he could change. A light workout and a shower sounded nice. Then he could eat dinner with his friends for a change instead of serving them and eating on the go in the back of the kitchen. He better let everyone know he’s not cooking and to meet up with him in the galley instead of the the back door to the kitchen.

“Hey everybody, I’m just letting you all know I am not cooking dinner so we will be dining in the galley tonight.”

“That SUPER works for me and Usopp.”

“Sanji,” Sanji’s heart swelled at the sound of his lovely Robin’s voice “ What time should we all meet there?”

It wasn’t odd that the determination for meal time was left up to Sanji. Even if he wasn’t cooking he still knew peak times for every meal’s rush. 

“Such a smart question from a lovely woman~ Well would you all prefer to eat earlier or later?” Sanji directed the question at the group. It didn’t matter much to him so long as everyone ate.

“EARLY! I’m hungry now!” Sanji rubbed his temples; that boy and food. 

“What about everyone else? We all know Luffy would eat all the time if he could.” Sanji was still making his way down the ladder well.

“Sanji, my shift on the bridge doesn’t end until halfway through dinner hours.”

“And I will be performing the dinner show in the formal dining area tonight.”

“Okay so we will eat at 1930.” That is why Sanji wanted to check with everyone before making a decision. “Luffy I will give you a snack to tide you over if you come by my quarters.” He added as an afterthought.

“I’m on my way!” Sanji could hear some grumbling in the background before the boy released the talk button on his communicator.

Sanji briefly wondered if it was the trainer or Trafalgar Law. He didn’t really care to see either of those men. Why Luffy decided to bring those two into the group Sanji might never understand. Sure, Luffy had a strange magnetism to him. He could admit that to himself. If it hadn’t been for the strange alien-hybrid-human boy Sanji wouldn’t have such great friends now.

He had finally made it down to the 0-10 level. He made his way to his quarters. He scanned his hand to open the door. The space really wasn’t much bigger than you’d expect a closet to be but, Sanji had made it his own. He had spent the money for silk sheets on his bed which remained neatly made. He had went through the trouble to get his pictures printed out so he could hang them on the wall. There were a few of Zeff, the kitchen staff, and himself before they had all agreed to take this gig on the Sunny. Sometimes he missed their old home on Est Blu; a water based planet far from where they were now. There were a couple more photos of his group of friends on planets they had visited since boarding the Sunny. One of his favorites was the group on a desert planet called Alabasta. That had been a crazy time. That’s where Vivi was. Sanji missed her but, he knew that Nami missed her much more. His poor Nami. Sanji’s heart ached when he thought of the beautiful redhead in any kind of pain. A knock freed Sanji from his nostalgia.

“Sanji! I’m here for my snack!”

Sanji opened the door. It was just Luffy. No one else in tow. Sanji held the door open and let Luffy step in. Sanji turned and opened up a cabinet and pulled out a large bag of jerky. He kept several of these for these sorts of occasions. They were all spicy so that Luffy would have to slow down and make the snack last.

“Here.” He handed the bag to Luffy who smiled. “Where is the new guy?” Why was he asking? He didn’t care where that moss head had wandered off to. With and luck it would be the jettison bay and he’d be thrown out into space.

“Ee ed ee ih-uhn eed oo ee uh oo-id urly ow.” Luffy was speaking with his mouth full again.

“Can you try again without a mouth full of jerky?” It was a reasonable suggestion.

Luffy swallowed. “He saaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid he didn’t need to see a stupid curly brow and then I left. We just got down to Franky and Usopp so I left him with them. Usopp is gonna configure a comunator for’im”

“It’s communicator and why? It’s not like he’s one of us. He’s new and he probably took this job to get to the next planet.” Sanji busied himself with picking out work out clothes.

“I decided he’s our friend so now he’s our friend.” Luffy’s brows furrowed a bit.

“That remains to be seen. Now go. I am going to change and work out before dinner. I’ll have my communicator if anyone needs me.” Sanji stressed the word needs because some people don’t understand the difference between needing and wanting.

Sanji shoved Luffy out the door and watched to make sure the idiot walked away from his quarters. He went back into his room and changed looking at himself in the mirror. It’s not that Sanji was ashamed of his body he just always felt like he could do better. He had always had lean muscle. He finished changing then briefly debated on putting his hair up. He decided against putting it up for his journey to the gym. He’d put it up once he got there so he could still look good for any women he passed along the way.

He made his way up to the 0-2 and went to the cardio machines. The treadmill seemed like a good place to start.

____

After Luffy had left, the long nosed man had given Zoro a communicator. Usopp was clearly a nervous man. Zoro wasn’t really sure how anyone who identified as a man could let himself be so nervous. What made Zoro feel unsettled is that such a nervous man was in charge of the ship's defense systems in addition to the pyrotechnics used for firework shows. Surely, someone who was so unsure shouldn’t be in charge of such dangerous objects. Whatever. It wasn’t Zoro’s job to make such decisions.

The cyborg had been more of a man’s man but, for some strange reason only wore a speedo. At least he seemed confident in his decision to be indecent. The cyborg had put navigation software on Zoro’s communicator at the witches request. Zoro felt he didn’t need it. He could make his way around just fine. Which is what he was proving right now. He went through a hatch in the ladder well sure that this was the floor with the gyms. He scratched his head. This floor looked familiar but, no gyms.

“Zoro what are you doing back here? You left like an hour ago.” The long nose inquired only briefly looking up from his work bench.

“N-nothing.” He crossed his arms defensively.

“Nami must have been telling the truth. Here give me your communicator.” Usopp held out his hand and Zoro complied. The younger man pressed an orange button and spoke enunciating every word. “I would like to go to the gym.” The communicator trilled and the screen turned green.

“Directions to the gym beginning now.” A robotic yet feminine voice responded.

“Here it’ll tell you how to get there.” Usopp handed back the device.

Zoro shrugged indifferently and started following the directions. It seemed like he made an endless amount of turns as he came to an unfamiliar ladder well. In some way it made sense that there was more than one on a ship this massive. He continued following the navigation until he had reached the 0-2 level.

“Arrived at gym. Enjoy your day.” The navigation shut off and Zoro stuffed the communicator into his sweat pants pocket. Zoro would work out and meditate until he had to teach his second class of the day. He would miss that dumb dinner meet up but, he was okay with it. He’d just go to midrats. Zoro made his way to the free weight room. He did 100 inverted pushups as a light warm up and had just started doing arm curls when he caught sight of the blonde making his way to a water fountain. His face was flushed and a layer of sweat was on his forehead. His forehead was all the way visible because the blonde had pulled back his hair for his workout. Zoro smirked. Curly brows brows curled in one direction. He couldn’t hold it back. Zoro busted out laughing. How stupid! His dumb eyebrows went the same way?! Tears from laughing too hard pricked at Zoro’s eyes as he regained control of himself. He looked up to see the blonde making his way over to him.

“Something funny or did that moss finally make it’s way to your brain?” Zoro’s smile had been eradicated.

“Your eyebrows curl the same direction.” Zoro stated.

A look of what had to be embarrassment crossed the cook’s face for a split second but, the trainer had caught it. So he was sensitive about that? How strange.

“At least I don’t look like a ball of algae.” The cook recovered with a smirk. “Marimo.”

Zoro was becoming irritated. What was this guy’s problem? “You wanna go dart-board-brow?”

“Like you could take me, moss-for-brains!” The two men were in each others faces now.

“I bet I could! There are several sparring rooms on this level. I bet I can take your princess ass down in one round with no weapons.”

“You’re on!”

______

Sanji could not believe this guy. The nerve. Sanji was just minding his own business when he heard someone laughing obnoxiously loud. He looked over to see where it was coming from. Much to his chagrin it was the marimo that was laughing so loudly. To top it off the bastard had the nerve to point at Sanji while he was doing it! Now Sanji was livid and following the man to a sparring room to hash this out.

Once inside the man removed his shoes. “Oi moss head what’s the big idea?”

“I work on this level I can’t afford to fuck up the mats.” The green haired man examined Sanji. “You take yours off too.”

Sanji could respect that at least. Pride in your work. Sanji removed his shoes and moved to meet his opponent in the middle of the room. Assholes always under estimated his fighting ability because he was lean and not bulky. This man was in for a surprise.

The marimo slid into a fighting stance and eyed Sanji. Sanji made the first move, just a side kick to get a sense of his opponent's ability. Sanji had put force into the test nonetheless. The man blocked and swung his arm towards Sanji’s head. Sanji dodged and continued his motion backwards onto his hands and launched a kick at the man's ribs. The kick was blocked but, Sanji pushed back up to his feet and aimed another kick at the man’s head which was dodged.

“Are you gonna attack or just keep evading mine, coward?!” Sanji taunted the man hoping to bait him into striking back. The man smirked with a glimmer of something in his gray eyes. With surprising speed the man closed the distance between the two as he aimed a strike at Sanji’s ribs which Sanji blocked with a raised leg. Sanji was surprised by the amount of force behind the blow. The man went to sweep Sanji’s other leg from under him but, Sanji had read this move and dropped the leg he used to block and brought his standing leg around for a blow to the head but, no contact was made except with air.

The whole match went this way. The two men went blow for blow equally matched. After 20 minutes of coming at each other again and again the two men were left panting. Neither of them had landed a hit against the other. Everything was blocked or dodged. They were both sweating and tired but, neither had the intention of giving up. Another trainer opened the door to the room they were sparring in.

“Zoro I am teaching a class in here in a half an hour I need to start prepping the space.”

The marimo kept his eyes on Sanji. “Alright I’ll wipe up the mats. Give me five minutes.” The man broke eye contact with Sanji and relaxed his stance. “Cook you can go I don’t need your help and we can’t continue.”

“So you’re giving up?” Sanji felt a devilish smile creep onto his face. He knew Zoro was the type of man who never gave up. It was clear his question bothered the man because of the way he tensed before meeting Sanji’s eyes.

“No. We will just have to continue this another time.” He spat the words at Sanji.

Sanji wouldn’t push the man further even though he knew if he wanted to he could bait the man into another fight right then and there. He was tired and desperately wanted a shower. He had already worked out for two hours before he had started this match with the marimo. He felt he had pretty good stamina but, he would prefer to continue this fight on fair ground when he was rested.

“Fine. I will hold you to your word moss head.” Sanji slipped on his shoes and pulled the hair tie out letting his bangs cover half his face again as he made his way out of the room. He looked back at the marimo. Sweat from their fight had made the man’s shirt cling to his muscles. His muscles were so defined. “I’ll see you at dinner?” Sanji caught himself asking; cringing internally.

“No.” The man said as he sprayed the mats dotted with drops of sweat with some sort of sanitizer.

“What do you mean no? You’re not gonna eat with us? What’s your schedule? I’ll send a meal box.” Sanji didn’t want anyone to go without eating.

“What does it matter to you?” The man posed a good question. Sanji shouldn’t be this concerned.

“It’s my job on this ship to make sure all staff are being properly fed.” It was a true enough statement.

“I was planning on skipping dinner and just having midrats later on.” The man grumbled. “I’m teaching a class at the time you all decided to meet up any way.”

Why hadn’t the man said something while they were having the original discussion? “I’ll be sure to send a meal box then so you don’t go hungry.” Sanji stated as he finally left the door way. He grabbed a clean towel from the bin and wiped the sweat from his face and neck.

Ugh. Sanji felt gross. He needed a shower. He made his way to his quarters. His mind buzzing a bit. He had enjoyed the sparring session. He didn’t get to fight very often but, it was a good workout. The trainer’s strikes seemed odd though. Almost like they were meant to be holding a weapon in each hand. The man’s blows were quite strong as well. Those sculpted arms and defined back and chest muscles weren’t for show. But, what a show that would be. The green haired man panting and losing his breath because of Sanji. Sanji stopped dead in his tracks. No. No one here knows about that. No one here needs to know about that.

With a deep breath to collect himself, Sanji continued on his way back to his quarters. A cold shower was in order then to go make the trainer a meal box for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

It was 1800 when a young boy dressed as a cook walked up to the service desk in the gym Zoro was temporarily manning. 

“Uhm are you Zoro?” He said pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Yes?” Zoro folded his arms over his chest looking down at the boy.

“Chef Sanji told me to deliver this to you.” The kid placed one of those lunch boxes with the hand scanner in front of Zoro and started to walk away.

“Hey thanks kid!” Zoro called after him and the boy smiled over his shoulder in response.

Zoro scanned his hand like he had observed others do earlier. It beeped and he opened the lid. It looked like a simple enough meal. Mixed vegetables, grilled chicken, and brown rice. He already knew better than to think the taste would be anything less that exquisite. Tucked into the top of the lunch box were several packets and a note. Zoro opted to examine the packets first. Protein powder? Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. He couldn’t complain. Protein shakes were always a good staple to have in his line of work. They could save you from exhaustion if your class schedule was full with short breaks. He’d definitely be saving these for one of those days. He then moved to the note.

"Next time say something before we schedule dinner. I packed these protein shakes so you don’t starve yourself to death by accident. Use them wisely. If you need more let me know.  
-Cook"

Like Zoro is dumb enough to starve himself to death. He decided to go ahead and eat now while he was working the service desk in the gym. No one really ever came up to the desk because people who decide to come to the gym usually know what they are doing. The most frequent question Zoro got was where to put dirty towels. There were bins in every corner of the gym so Zoro would simply point and people would get out of his hair. The instructor that interrupted his sparring session with the cook showed up to relieve him from his service desk duty.

“I’m Hachan by the way! Everyone calls me Hachi though.” Zoro examined the man or rather alien. He was rather large with several extra arms.

“Roronoa Zoro.” He nodded in acknowledgement at the alien while collecting his few things.

“I teach swim classes and I used to teach kendo but, someone complained I was too confusing because I use a sword in each hand. They decided to hire you after that.” Hachi rubbed the nape of his neck and made a face of regret that was replaced with a smile almost instantly.

His interest was slightly piqued. “A sword in each hand, huh? Are you good?”

“I’m the second best from my town on Reyd Lyne.” Zoro wasn’t familiar with the planet the alien was from.

“Second best? Maybe we can spar sometime and you can be second best here too.” Zoro smiled. Hachi had his mouth hanging open at Zoro’s confident words. He took this chance to move away from the service desk towards the room where he’d be teaching classes in a half hour.

_________

“MEAT! Ow… Sanji.” Luffy whined rubbing the bump on his head.

“Leave some for others. Just because they are doing dinner ‘self-serve’ does not mean you get to be a pig.” Sanji scolded the younger man. He would have to have words with Jessica. Self-serve nights waste soooo much because people always take more than their fair share. Sanji sighed. How could he tell his decadent Jessica she had made a poor decision? His emotions must have played out on his face.

“Sanji, stop day dreaming. Let’s go sit so we can eat. Me and you are the last ones here.”

Sanji trailed behind the young man to their table which was really two tables pushed together. He sat down and looked around the table where he noticed an empty chair. What? Everyone was here already though. He counted 8 of them were there. Why was there an extra chair?

“Luffy, did you lose Zoro already?” Nami questioned. The chair was for the moss-head? They hadn’t even known him a whole day.

“No he’s teaching a class.” Luffy said in between shoveling food into his mouth.

“What kind of classes does he teach in the gym?” Robin said leaning into the conversation. Luffy shrugged in response. “Well it’s too bad he couldn’t make it. He seemed interesting.” She took a sip of her coffee.

“Yeah he seems SUPERRRR.” The blue haired cyborg yelled. “He hung out with me and Usopp in our work shop today for a while. I think he’ll fit right in, man.”

Sanji couldn’t help but, feel a bit annoyed. “He’s so rude though.” Everyone looked at him except Luffy who couldn’t be bothered with conversation during a meal.

“Sanji, give him a chance. It’s his first day. He’s probably just stressed. I can’t believe he’s missing a meal on his first day though. That really sucks.” Chopper lets a small frown come to his face as he pushed his vegetables around his plate. “Especially dinner, that would make me SO hungry.”

“Don’t worry Chopper, I sent a meal box to him.” Sanji felt like blushing though he didn’t know why.

“Oh that’s good.” The worry left the small creature’s face.

“I don’t know about him though. He seems kind of scary. Like he would beat you up for looking at him the wrong way.” Usopp cringed at the image he had created in his mind.

Sanji scoffed audibly. That marimo couldn’t beat him up. Nami who was adjacent to Sanji must have heard his scoff because she was now examining him closely.

“Sanji, how did you know to send him a meal box anyway?” A hint of mischief in her voice.

His sweet Nami was so perceptive at times. “I-uh I ran into him when I was at the gym and he informed me he wouldn’t be joining us.” Sanji’s face felt warm. Why? Why? She seemed sated by his answer and turned to ask Brook how his performance had gone.

Sanji breathed easy and started to work on his food. His mind played over the combat session with the trainer. Sanji was sure he’d win next time. 

The rest of dinner went well and the group of friends dispersed to take care of various things. Sanji went back to the kitchen to relieve Jessica so she didn’t have to stay up for midrats. Sanji looked at the left-overs from the day and decided he’d just let the night shift people self-serve left overs after he spruced them up a bit.

__________

It had to be 2330. He was starving. He was glad the cook had sent dinner otherwise he’d be emaciated right now. “Make a left.” Zoro was only slightly embarrassed he was using the navigation function on his communicator. He was too hungry to give it much thought, though. After teaching his class Zoro had sparred with Hachi. Hachi was skilled in his own way but, wasn’t really a match for Zoro. What had surprised him was the fish-man’s stamina. He just kept going and going. Eventually Hachi had taken enough beating at Zoro’s hand and had called it quits. Only after they finished cleaning the mats did Zoro’s hunger take effect. “Arrived.” The galley seemed pretty quiet. Most staff seemed to be making to-go boxes and leaving. He didn’t really relish the idea of having to take his food all the way to his quarters so he grabbed a tray and filled it. He chose a table in the corner where he could see everything going on in the room.

He started scarfing down the food and his eyelids became heavy…..

“Oi! Moss head! You can’t sleep here!” Someone kicked his shin and he lifted his head.

“Whu-” Zoro wiped something gooey from his face and looked at his hand. Why is there gravy on his face? He looked from his hand up at the person who kicked him. He should have known.

“Go sleep in your damn bed. We are trying to close the galley and you are preventing that.” The blonde scolded.

Zoro grunted in response finally getting his bearings. He stood up and grabbed his tray. Zoro cleared his throat and made his way past the blonde.   
_______

“Sanji, you go. We’ll finish cleaning.” A man shouted over the counter separating the galley from the kitchen.

“You sure, Patty?”

“Yeah, you’ll be up before breakfast. You need to sleep sometime otherwise your bad mood could put us all in danger.” Patty chuckled and moved towards the back of the kitchen.

“Okay, you make a point. But, if I find anything out of place in my kitchen I will hold you accountable.” Sanji shouted after the rough looking cook. Sanji started making his way towards the exit where he was surprised to see the dumb marimo standing and looking at his communicator.

“My quarters, dammit!” He was clearly frustrated. “Location not recognized.”

“You probably have to put in the compartment code. It’s not going to know where ‘my’ quarters is.The communicator doesn’t know where ‘my’ is. It’s not a place.”

“I guess that makes sense.” The trainer let out with a defeated sigh.

Sanji wasn’t sure if it was because the moss head was tired or if it was because he, himself, was exhausted but, for the first time since he met the man he wasn’t completely annoyed.

“I can help you find your quarters if you want.” Sanji offered. He wasn’t sure why though. He really was exhausted and he would be up in a few hours.

The marimo’s face turned red with embarrassment. “No that’s okay. I’ll figure it out. Hey -uh I wanted to thank you for sending me dinner. I think I would have passed out if I hadn’t eaten.”

“Oh.” Sanji was caught off guard. I mean yes they were managing to be civil but, he hadn’t expected any gratitude. “It’s no problem. If you just message me your schedule like everyone else does you're not likely to miss a meal while on board.”

Zoro cleared his throat. “H-how do I… message you?”

“Here let me see your communicator?” The man handed it to Sanji. “You press this blue button on the side and a list of names pops up. If you click on a name it gives you the option to type a message or call.”

“I thought the calls were with everybody?” The man was watching Sanji intently so as to learn how to use the communicator properly.

“If you hold down the blue button instead of just pressing it once, it will go into a walkie-talkie functionality with everyone in your contacts.” It looks like Franky preloaded the group’s contacts into Zoro’s communicator for him.

“Ah. Okay. I’ll send it to you tomorrow then.” Sanji handed the communicator back to the trainer their hands briefly brushing in the interaction. Zoro’s hands were rough and warm.

“Well, good night. Are you sure you don’t need help?” Sanji offered one last time.

“No, I’ll figure it out.” The man looked at his communicator then at Sanji. His grey eyes meeting Sanji’s left a strange feeling in Sanji's stomach.

With that strange feeling Sanji turned and left to go to his quarters. His mind couldn’t help but, wander back to his interactions with the trainer through the course of the day and how his demeanor had changed so significantly with his sleepiness. Sanji reached his quarters. He didn’t even go to wash his face. He pulled his shirt off while kicking off his shoes. He dropped his pants and plopped into bed face first. He fell asleep pretty quickly. His dreams swirling green and yellow;grey and blue.


	5. Chapter 5

Zoro woke up. His back was stiff and his glutes were numb. He should probably stop sleeping sitting up against the wall. It wasn’t his fault though. The hallways were confusing and he couldn’t remember how to get to his quarters so he’d been sleeping in various places around the ship when he got tired enough. 

He stood up and brushed off his pants. He was lucky he had a permanent locker stocked with workout clothes on the gym level. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to change. He looked at his communicator. It was 0400. An hour before he could get breakfast. He decided to wander a bit. In his first week he had been doing a lot of that. Luffy toted him around fairly often. That boy had an excessive amount of things going on all the time. He had also gotten to know the rest of the group a bit better. They were all nice and were each wierd in their own way but, those were the qualities that made Zoro feel more at home. Even the cook wasn’t too bad all the time. Under the facade the cook donned when Zoro was around, it was clear even the cook had accepted him. Zoro stopped his roaming . He had found a little secluded space with a window. Zoro didn’t think he would ever get used to the view. It was incredible every time he came across a window. He stood there staring for what seemed like hours until his communicator chirped. He pulled it out and looked.

0437 Cook: Mosshead, you up?

What the hell could the cook want? Maybe he shouldn’t respond and the cook will leave him alone.

0438 Cook:They don’t need me for breakfast so I was thinking we could finish our fight. Unless, you concede?  
_______  
0438 Moss head: yeah right! like i’d ever lose to you!

Sanji smiled to himself as he pulled on his gym shoes. He wasn’t sure what had made him think to message the trainer. Even if he had woken the moss head up Sanji knew it would be easy to bait him into a fight. 

0440 Moss head: meet you @ the gym

Sanji stood up from his bed and straightened out his sheets. He made his way up to the gym letting the climb be his warm up. He was excited and he knew the gym would be relatively empty at this time so they wouldn’t have any interruptions. Once there, Sanji scanned the space for green hair. Frowning to himself when he saw none.

0458 Where are you?

0458 Moss head: Waiting for your slow ass

0458 Well I am here and I don’t see you. 

A few minutes later Sanji felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see the moss head.

“Where the hell were you?” Sanji questioned.

“I was waiting in the room to spar.” Zoro said matter-of-factly leading them to the same room they fought in last time.

“You could have messaged me to meet you in here.” Sanji said removing his shoes upon entering the room.

“I figured you would have been smart enough to figure it out.” Zoro said moving to the center of the room. “Guess that’s what I get for thinking you had a brain in your head.” He smiled at Sanji.

“My brain is twice the size of yours!” Sanji was moving towards the trainer now.

The marimo had dropped into a defensive stance anticipating the leg Sanji was swinging towards his head. That’s where their session started. It went much like the last go around. Going blow for blow until they were left panting but, oddly enough had smiles on their faces. It ended a bit different from last time though. Sanji thought he had finally caught the man but, instead of a simple block the trainer caught Sanji’s leg in an iron grip and jumped, pushing Sanji onto his back with the trainer on top. The trainer quickly brought his legs around Sanji’s pinning his legs down and holding Sanji’s arms tightly against his sides. Sanji’s face felt warm but, not from the physical exertion. He could feel the trainer’s short breaths as he held them both in that position.

“Do you concede?” The marimo’s smile widened.

“What?” Sanji snapped out of the hyper focus his mind had gone into. 

“Do. You. Concede?” The trainer emphasized every word looking down at Sanji.

“No way.” Sanji felt strange saying no from underneath the muscle clad idiot. It definitely seemed like he should concede.

“You can’t fight back from here. Your fighting style doesn’t cater to grappling.” 

He has a point. “I will never be defeated by you.”

“You sure seem defeated.” Zoro constricted his thighs wrapped around Sanji’s legs to emphasize the point but, Sanji’s mind chose to focus elsewhere. 

Sanji’s face felt warmer and warmer. His hands constricted; his legs bound by the legs of another. The man on top of him smiling down at him as he controlled the situation. The man’s shirt clinging tightly to his chest. Sanji had already felt hot from the sparring but, the proximity to the man he had been fighting was starting to make him uncomfortably hot. Sanji started to squirm a little. His breathing picking up speed. He needed this man off before something happened he was sure neither of them wanted.

“Hey cook?” He looked back to the trainers face. His brows were furrowed with a bit of worry. The trainers grip loosened sensing some of Sanji’s panic.

Sanji ripped his hands from the man’s grasp and pulled himself out from under Zoro sitting up a foot away.   
_____  
Zoro could tell he had crossed some sort of line. The cooks eyes seemed a million lightyears away from the room they were occupying.

“You okay, cook?” Zoro sat back on his feet. Kneeling across from the cook.

“Yeah ,” The cook’s voice came out soft and rough. He cleared his throat. “You- I concede. You definitely won.” Within the short sentence the blonde had gotten up and put on his shoes. He was at the door when Zoro placed a hand on his shoulder.  
“That’s not what I asked cook.” Zoro looked into the cook’s eyes. “Are you okay? You don’t seem…..right.”

“I’m fine. I just remembered I told Usopp I would get him some stuff by this morning.” The cook shook Zoro’s hand off of his shoulder and left.

Zoro wasn’t sure what he had done but, he knew he wouldn’t be doing it again. He had just wanted to beat the cook. Show he was strong enough. If he was being honest he was happy he had found an equal in sparring. 

Zoro sprayed down the mats and cleaned them off and made his way to the showers trying to figure out how to make this right. He had just gotten here. He couldn’t lose another person equal to him. It wasn’t often that he found someone worthy of his efforts. Zoro was a skilled fighter and to find someone who could go blow for blow with him was rare. There was only one person who came to Zoro’s mind who he would ever admit to being defeated by and she was gone. Most other people he fought with would give up or weren’t enough of challenge for Zoro to use his full strength. The cook was different. Zoro could go full strength and he had. Both times they fought. On top of that the fighting, came naturally to both of them. Like they were meant to be doing some strange dance together.

Zoro grabbed a fresh towel and his soaps and headed for the showers. He’d have to make sure the cook was okay. He had seen the expression the cook had under him. He’d seen it before and he hadn’t done enough then.

_________

Sanji couldn’t get out of the gym fast enough. His mind kept replaying the situation that had just occurred and mixed it with images from that night. He didn’t want this. No one here knew. Sanji’s hands were shaking as he got to his quarters. Sanji sat on the edge of his bed holding his head in his hands he made himself take a deep breath. It’s not like the marimo had known. That night was Sanji’s weakest moment. He should have known better when the man was buying him drink after drink. If he was more of a man nothing would have happened. He should have seen the signs. He should have fought back more. He should have fought harder. That man’s smile as he looked down on Sanji. He should have- “chirp!” His communicator pulled him from his spiraling thoughts.

0714 Nami: I know you said we were on our own for breakfast but, you’re not even going to eat with us?

Shit. 0714 Just running a bit late my sweet. <3

Sanji grabbed his emergency pack of baby wipes and gave himself a bird bath. He’d have to shower after breakfast but, he’d be damned if he went to breakfast smelling. He put on his favorite button down, a pair of black pants, socks, and shoes. He used a towel to dry the remaining sweat in his hair and then combed it quickly. He quickly made his way up to the galley then towards the food line.

0723 Nami: Zoro grabbed you plate so no need to wait in line. I told him you’d probably want to pick out your own food but, he seemed pretty determined. 

What was the trainer trying to pull? Sanji could get his own food. He wouldn’t waste whatever the marimo had gotten him though. He made his way over to the table. There was an open spot between Franky and Chopper with a plate full of food. He looked at the plate; it was surprisingly balanced: eggs, bacon, melon, strawberries, and some potatoes. He peered around for the moss head. He was next to Luffy who was not surprisingly talking with his mouth full of food about some event he was planning for the passengers. The trainer must have felt Sanji looking at him because he met Sanji’s eyes. Sanji mouthed a thank you and the marimo nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to Luffy. Sanji ate everything on his plate. He was hungrier than he thought he was. Not that he would have wasted any of the food anyway. When he got up to leave the trainer also stood. Shit. Sanji was really hoping he wouldn’t ask about this morning as they walked to the dirty tray receptacle.

Sanji waited for the man to say something but, they just walked in silence. After putting his tray in the bin he turned to see the man staring at him. Assessing him. 

“Stop that.” Sanji sternly said. 

“I-” The man shifted; looking away from Sanji. “I just want to be sure you’re okay. I know I crossed some sort of line. I just want to be sure I don’t cross it again by accident.” This seemed genuine; soft even.

“Aww, I’m touched.” His tone was dry with sarcasm. “I don’t need your concern.” Sanji turned to leave the galley and had made it out into the hallway when he felt the trainer’s hand on his shoulder yet again. Why couldn’t he just let Sanji leave?

“I’m trying not to be a dick here. I know I’ve only been in this group a week but, I’m pretty sure if I told the rest of the group about your episode they’d be as concerned as I am.” A serious expression was on the marimo’s face. His hand left Sanji’s shoulder to cross his arms. Somewhere Sanji’s mind noted that his shoulder felt cold where the man’s hand had been.

“I told you I don’t need your concern. My shit is exactly that. Mine.” Sanji spat. He was being rude but, this new comer had no right to thrust himself into Sanji’s bullshit.

The trainer took a step back and seemed to be considering his next words. The trainer uncrossed his arms and sighed. “Fine, but when you’re done pretending you know where to find me.”

“Pretending?” Sanji’s mouth fell open. The one word question had come out quiet and a little broken. He wasn’t pretending about anything. He just didn’t want anyone to know. He didn’t want anyone to worry. This was his shit to deal with and his alone. There wasn’t any pretending. 

_____

The cook was caught up in his own thoughts and Zoro was sick of it. He was just trying to be nice. He had seen the trauma on the cook’s face in that room. He was concerned for a friend. Zoro walked toward the ladder well. He let his feet lead the way to gym. He made his way to the weight machines and started working the muscles in his chest. This was the only way he knew how to get through these feelings. He didn’t even especially like the cook. Why was he doing this?

He knew why. He had lost Kuina. He had seen similar signs before she left. He still couldn’t feel at peace with it. The same look of trauma on her face all those years ago. The next day she was dead. Zoro still wasn’t sure if she had ended it because she was tired of struggling or if it had truly been an accident. He couldn’t watch it happen again. He wouldn’t let it happen again.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been days since the cook had even looked at Zoro. Muchless spoke to him. He wasn’t sure why this bothered him so much. Usually when Zoro made a decision he didn’t second guess himself. That’s not the kind of man he was. It’s not the kind of man he ever intended to be. He liked to be confident in his decisions and live with no regrets. He was doubting this decision though. The cook obviously didn’t want to talk or mention whatever was going through his mind that day.

Zoro made his way down to the engineer’s workshop. Luffy had asked if he could meet him there. “Descend 8 flights of stairs.” Zoro followed the directions. At this point he wasn’t embarrassed anymore. He had other things on his mind more important than what people thought of him using a navigation function on board a ship. 

“Exit through the door then turn right.” Zoro’s arms groaned as he pulled open the door. Maybe he had been over doing it in the gym lately. That was all he could do though. This silence was driving him up the wall. He had tried to do the right thing. He just wanted the cook to feel better and he knew if the cook would let it out he’d feel better. That’s a basic principle of emotion.

“Wrong turn. Course corrected. Turn left.” Why couldn’t the cook just be upfront with his feelings? It wasn’t a difficult thing to do. The cook still made sure Zoro was eating regularly but, no more notes were in his meal boxes. The cook had even stopped watching to see Zoro’s reaction to the food.  
“Make a right. The destination is on the left.” Zoro took a calming breath before entering the space. “Arrived.”

“Finally Zoro!” Luffy hopped off the table he had been sitting on. “I’ve been waiting forever.” His tone exaggerating the word.

“Luffy, you’ve been here for ten minutes most of which you spent talking.” Usopp said while tinkering with some electronics.

“Whatever. I need to talk to you two.” Luffy sat back down on the table crossing his legs. “I had an idea. What if we did an obstacle course race for our next event?”

“Okay….” Zoro failed to recognize why he needed to be here for this conversation. Activities were Luffy’s department. The engineers would likely play a role in the set up because Luffy would want to go over the top.

“I was watching some archive footage of what people used to do for fun and they would run these really intense races where they would go through mud pits and jump over fires and climb walls but, it was a community so everyone would band together and help eachother out!” Luffy explained excitedly.

“Luffy I don’t think they’d let us set stuff on fire. Fire in space on a ship is a recipe for disaster.” Usopp said pointedly.

“But, if you were in charge of it monitoring it they might let us! You set stuff on fire all the time when you’re working.” Luffy clearly saw this as a good thing.

“NOT ON PURPOSE! You make it sound like I’m a pyro!”

“No, you’re just the best at what you do!”

“Buttering me up won’t change my mind, Luffy.” The two men continued bickering Zoro just standing in silence only half listening. 

He cleared his throat. “Luffy, that sounds cool and all but, what does this have to do with me?”

“Well I will have to coordinate with your department because we will need pace keepers for the race not to mention I want your input on the obstacles. Shishishishi” The boy giggled. “This is gonna be so much fun!”

________  
Sanji did his best to focus on the vegetables he chopping. He knew he was only doing this so he could avoid the moss head. Insisting on being in the kitchen for every meal. Hiding. He just couldn’t face that man right now. Sanji was caught somewhere between anger at himself for allowing himself to be caught in a moment of weakness and anger at the marimo for focusing on Sanji’s weakness. A knock on the backdoor of the kitchen drew his attention. He opened the door to see his lovely Robin.

“How can I help you, beautiful?” Sanji threw on a smile.

“I was hoping I could get a thermos full of coffee and a large bottle of cola?” She smiled back.

“Of course, I’ll make fresh coffee for you though.” He moved to let her through the door. Then went over to make a fresh pot of coffee.

“So how are you today, Sanji? We haven’t seen you at meals lately.” He should have known his other friends would notice his voluntary absence.

“I’m doing well. We’ve just been busy back here.” After Sanji had set the coffee maker to run he went back to chopping vegetables.

“Everyone has been asking if you’re okay.” She sat on a tall stool leaning on the counter towards Sanji.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just busy.” He looked her in the eye to reassure her. That had been a mistake. Robin had always been almost too perceptive.

“If there is something wrong you can always tell us.” It wasn’t like her to press a subject like this. “Or you can at least talk to me. You know I’d never tell anyone anything you didn’t want me to.” It was true. They had spent many a late night talking about things between the two of them. Sanji was closest to Robin out of the whole group. The only person closer to Robin was Franky but, that was to be expected considering they were a couple.

“I know. Just…” Sanji really didn’t want to get into detail. Maybe he could be vague and she’d leave it there. “Recently, some stuff from my past has been bothering me. It was set off while I was doing something I …..enjoyed. The person I was with noticed and now they won’t drop it.”

“Zoro is only concerned about you, Sanji.” Sanji froze. Had that moss head said something? “He didn’t say anything but, I can see it every time you miss a meal with us. He’s clearly looking for you. I don’t know what happened and I won’t ask but, please stop hiding yourself away, we miss you.” Robin placed her hand on top of Sanji’s.

“I’m not hiding myself away. I’m just working.” He sighed knowing if anything that was a lie. “But, if an amazing woman like you is requesting my presence who am I to deny you?”

Robin smiled; some of the worry leaving her face. Sanji turned to fill her thermos and grab a large cola from one of the refrigerators. He handed them to her as she stood.

“Thank you, Sanji.” She opened the door to leave.

“No, thank you.” He made a point to say this because he knew she had been right. Sanji’s first reaction was always to pull away. To descend into himself and spiral out until he hit bottom. He had gotten lucky though. He had friends now. Friends who knew when he needed to be pulled out. Friends who stood by him. Friends who could read him like a book and knew when to be concerned. Even if that concern was annoying. Even if that concern came from a green haired man who was an idiot. Sanji sighed. Fuck. He was going to have to apologize. He knew he didn’t owe the trainer an explanation. The reason why Sanji was this way was none of his business but, he did at least need to apologize for acting like a dick when the man had just been trying to help. Sanji’s shit didn’t give him an excuse to treat others badly. He pulled out his communicator and held down the button to broadcast to everyone.

“Hey guys, I was thinking we could have dinner in the kitchen breakroom and I’ll cook something nice for us, 1830 work for everyone?”

“Sanji, cook lots of meat! Also Usopp and Zoro said they can make it.”

“We’ll be there too! It’ll be suuuuupeeeeeeerrr! Oh!- We is Robin and me.”

“I’ll be there. My shift in the infirmary ends at 1800 tonight,”

“I’ll be there Sanji. Bepo took my shift in the bridge.” Ahhh Nami’s voice was beautiful. It was quiet for minute as they waited to hear from Brook. A minute went by.

Sanji’s brow furrowed. “Brook?”

“Brook is performing right now so he probably can’t talk.” Robin chimed.

“Okay I will message him so he at least knows what is going on.” Sanji replied.

He messaged Brook the details and set to work on preparing a dinner for his friends. He had to admit he felt a little better.

_______

Zoro wasn’t sure if the cook was better now or what. Throwing a banquet for everyone was nice. Zoro tried not to think too much about it. Damn this food was good. The cook had even brought out a nice stash of booze. Zoro hadn’t intended to become inebriated but, every time he emptied his glass it was refilled. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed not that he cared. He only had to man the service desk this morning and didn’t have any classes to teach today. Slowly the group finished dinner then dessert. 

Franky and Robin were the first to say they needed to go. They didn’t make any excuses. It was rare everyone had free time at the same time meaning they wanted some alone time. Nami had offered to watch the archive for Robin saying she wanted to review some of the old maps and such. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper all left to go play video games. Brook sat there sipping his tea while Zoro finished another glass of booze. Once Brook finished, he offered to help Sanji clean up which Sanji politely refused stating he liked things clean a certain way. 

Zoro remained at the table observing the blonde cook. His blue eye never meeting Zoro’s. Would they ever? Even throughout this whole dinner Sanji still hadn’t acknowledged him. Yes, he’d taken care of him but, that wasn’t the same.

“Oi cook.” Zoro started. “Why won’t you look at me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The cook started clearing plates and taking them to the sink. Both men just letting silence hang between them.

“Will you tell me what I did at least?” The question had bubbled out of Zoro’s mouth before he had thought it through. The cook remained quiet while he cleaned dishes. He even dried and put them away before he moved to the table where Zoro was waiting for an answer silently with a half empty bottle of strong sake.

“A while back some stuff happened to me.” The cook started still not meeting Zoro’s eyes. “I don’t really want to get into it but, I do want to apologize for being an asshole.” His blue eye finally met Zoro’s.

“Okay but, what did I do? I’ve been trying to figure it out for days. I- I just don’t want to do it again. I like-” Zoro stopped himself. He liked spending time with the cook but, he wouldn’t force it. “Sorry, I just don’t want to ruin our friendship because I’m an idiot.”

“Well you are an idiot.” The cook cracked a smile then moved back to a serious expression looking away from Zoro again. “Maybe we can just avoid grappling the next time we spar.” His expression showed something Zoro didn’t fully understand. Shame? There was no shame to be had here.

“Yeah , okay.” Zoro nodded not questioning the request. He felt relieved that they might be moving past this. He downed the last of his drink.

_______

So the marimo valued their friendship? It hadn’t been very long since Sanji had kicked him down the stairs. Sanji was a little taken aback by the man expressing himself in such a way. But, he was probably drunk. Sanji had been filling up his cup at a pretty steady pace all night. Drunk or not he had apologized and the other man had accepted so he had done his part.

He looked at the marimo across from him. Surprised to see intense grey eyes boring holes into him. He wondered what the inebriated marimo could be thinking about for him to receive such an intense expression. Sanji felt warmth creeping onto his cheeks.

“Alright, Marimo” Sanji stood “we talked. Now you need to get out of the kitchen. The night shift people will be here soon to start cooking for midrats.”

“Fine, I’ll go. BUT not because you told me to. Because I want to.” Sanji was starting to think the alcohol was hitting the poor moss ball as he watched him stand and then stumble. “Stop staring at me with that pretty blue eye of yours.”

Sanji’s cheeks got warmer. The man pulled out his communicator. “Take me to my quarters.”

“Location not recognized.”

“Dammit. Oh well.” The man shoved the device back into his pocket as he made his way to the door.

“Zoro, do you need help getting to your quarters?” Sanji found himself saying.

“I don’t even know where they are. I’ve been looking but, it keeps moving around.”

Sanji tried to understand the statement. “You don’t know where your room is?”

“Not a clue.” The man shrugged with a dumb smile that gave Sanji that strange feeling in his stomach again.

“Wh-how-but” Sanji sputtered trying to wrap his head around this. “Where have you been sleeping?”

“Wherever is quiet enough and I can sit down long enough.”

Sanij ran a hand through his hair. What a moron! Sanji had offered to help him find his way like two weeks ago almost. How had he been surviving?

“okay , I’ll get you to your quarters. Give me a second to figure out where they are though.” Sanji went over to the computer they used to send official meal boxes and punched in Zoro’s first name. “Zoro what is your full name? It won’t let me search without a surname.”

“Roronoa. My name is Roronoa Zoro. Which you have said now twice. I think I like my name coming out of your mouth.” Zoro smiled with a sloppy smile.

“Would you shut the fuck up, moron?” Sanji tried to ignore the comments but, if one thing was apparent Zoro was a flirt when he got drunk. Sanji finished typing Zoro’s surname and up popped his work space number and his quarters number. 0-9-34-Q. Zoro’s quarters were one floor above his own. He could drop the marimo off and go to bed himself. Sanji grabbed three water bottles from the fridge. Two for the marimo and one for himself. “C’mon marimo.”

“Not unless you say my name again.” The idiot crossed his arms challenging the blonde.  
_______

“What- no algae for brains let’s go.” The blonde grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Zoro knew his brain wasn’t working right but, when the blonde grabbed his hand it was electric. Zoro liked the way the slender hand fit with his own. He let himself be towed around by the blonde fixating on the contact between them. His hand held tightly occasionally the cook would brush closer to him to make room in the hallway for others. The cook smelled of cologne and various seasoning when he did brush up close to Zoro.

Eventually they came to a door in a random hallway. Sanji let go of Zoro’s hand and Zoro just frowned looking at his now empty hand.

“You have to open the door idiot. It’s your room.” Zoro looked up at the cook.

“My room?” God that booze was fucking strong. Somewhere in Zoro’s clouded mind he seemed to recognize just how drunk he was. Zoro placed and hand on the scanner and the door opened. It was his room. He stepped inside the small closet like space. HIS SWORDS! It had been a couple weeks since he’d seen them because he couldn’t carry them around the ship and then he couldn’t find his room. He was so happy. He turned around and hugged to cook who had helped him.

___

Sanji wasn’t sure what had happened. He got the marimo to his quarters. The marimo had stepped inside. Gasped in delight? Then turned around and hugged him. He was frozen. The embrace was warm. He almost felt like he would melt.

“Thank you, curly-brow.” The man still held Sanji against him.

“You’re welcome?” Sanji was conflicted. The contact was good but, he wasn’t sure what had brought it on or if he should let it continue. The door had automatically closed behind them. Sanji decided to let himself be held. He breathed in the man’s scent; mint shampoo and a little sweat. The man finally let go and stepped back to look at Sanji.He looked like he himself was trying to decide something.  
“Well I’m gonna go. I’m pretty tired.” Sanji wasn’t telling a lie. He was pretty tired. 

The green haired man frowned. “You don’t have to go for that.” Sanji didn’t know what to think about this. The man was clearly drunk. “I-I don’t want to do anything. I just- I know I like being close to you.” The marimo blushed.

“You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying.” Sanji shifted uncomfortably. 

“Will you please stay until I fall asleep. I don’t really want to be alone.” Sorrow crossed Zoro’s face. Sanji was having trouble keeping track of the torrent of emotions.

Sanji sighed. “Fine but, I’m not staying.”

Zoro smiled lightly and then proceeded to take off his shirt and climb into his bed. Sanji tried not to stare at the man’s impressive physique. Sanji sat with his back against the bed staring at the closet across from him. 

“Cook, can I ask you something?”

“What?”

The marimo turned to lay on his side so he could see the blonde. “What do you like? I see the way you act towards attractive women but, I also know how you look at me.”

Sanji had not been expecting that question. “I-uh… no one here knows...except Robin. It’s not that I’m ashamed of liking both. I can appreciate beauty anywhere I just don’t like the looks I get from people when they realize I play for both sides. People like you to like one or the other not both.” He let the words pour out of his mouth as quickly as possible.

“I understand. Was just wondering.” 

It was quiet then. Sanji listened to the trainer’s breathing slowly turn to soft snores. After he was sure he’d fallen asleep Sanji looked at the schedule Zoro had sent him and set the man’s alarm for 0630 so he’d have time to grab breakfast before teaching his 0730 class. He put the two water bottles on the table and looked at the green haired men sleeping. He looked peaceful.

Sanji left before he did something dumb like reach out and touch the man’s face. He felt like he had a lot to think about but, really it was simple. He liked Zoro.


	7. Chapter 7

He could here an angry beeping. He just wanted the noise to stop. It was making his head pound. Zoro reached out towards the beeping hitting the contraption with all of his strength. He heard a satisfying crack under his fist. He smiled settling back into his sheets. Chirp! What now? He felt around for his communicator. He heard it go off again. He sat up and turned on the light in his room which he quickly regretted. There. It was on his nightstand next to a pile of broken electronics? Oh. His alarm clock.   
Only then did Zoro realize he had slept in his room. Vague memories of drunken haze returned to him. The cook had gotten him here. They had talked. For the first time in days. Zoro didn’t want to acknowledge the smile that had found its way to his lips at the thought so he looked at his communicator.

0631 Cook: Marimo you better be getting up.  
0632 Cook: Message me so I know you are awake.  
0634 I’m up.  
0634 Cook: Good. You better hurry up if you want to eat before your class.  
0637 What are you my mother?

Zoro couldn’t help but, tease the cook. Breakfast did sound good though. He was parched too. He turned and noticed two water bottles on his night stand. He downed both of them. That was a little better but, his stomach felt like it would eat itself in a few minutes. He got out of bed and threw on a new set of clothes. No need for a shower. He would be getting sweaty and dirty again in a few hours anyway while teaching his 0730 class.

0642 Cook: Make sure you take a note of your compartment number dumbass.

Shit. The cook had found out Zoro didn’t know where his own room was last night. Zoro begrudgingly spoke to his communicator.

“Save current location as ‘my quarters’.”  
“Current location saved as ‘my quarters’.”

Zoro made his way up to the galley. He looked at the food line and groaned. At this rate he wouldn’t be able to eat before he had to go set up. His stomach growled fiercely at him. He could make it without eating but, he would prefer not to. He was out of protein packs. He could just ask the cook for more. With that in mind Zoro left the galley and went around to the back door of the kitchen Luffy had brought him to on his first day and knocked.

The cook opened the door and a surprised look crossed his face only to be replaced by one of amusement.  
“You look like shit, Marimo.” The blonde let out a puff of vapor.

Zoro fanned to cloud away. “Look I don’t have time for this. Can I have a couple more protein packs? You said if I needed more to let you know.”

The blonde rolled his visible eye and turned around leaving the door open so Zoro could enter. He followed him into the kitchen and stood just inside the door. The cook went over to a high cabinet and opened it. The blonde looked cute standing on his toes and leaning against the counter to reach the shelf. Zoro’s eyes unintentionally explored the cook. Words from the night before returning to him.

“What do you like? I see the way you act towards attractive women but, I also know how you look at me.” Zoro wasn’t sure why he wanted to know but, he had noticed the way the cook looked at him. Almost like the cook was hungry.

The cook was quiet for a moment. “I-uh… no one here knows...except Robin. It’s not that I’m ashamed of liking both. I can appreciate beauty anywhere I just don’t like the looks I get from people when they realize I play for both sides. People like you to like one or the other not both.” The cook sputtered through his response then sighed.

“I understand. Was just wondering.” Both? Zoro could appreciate that he was just glad to know the cook could like him the way he liked the cook.

A flush came to his cheeks after he finished replaying the memory. He liked the cook. Shit. Did he know? Zoro pondered this. This shouldn’t turn into anything. He hadn’t left home for this. Yes, he was glad he had found companions but, he didn’t need anything more.

“Oi! What fucking flavor do you want?” It was obvious the cook had been trying to get his attention due to his exasperated tone.

“Vanilla would be good.” He rubbed the back of his head mentally shaking himself from these thoughts.

“Here.” The cook handed him a small box a vanilla packets. “This should last you awhile.”  
______  
Their hands brushed when Zoro went to take the box. His hands were so warm and rough. Sanji looked to see if the Marimo had noticed his breath catch. He raised his eyes to meet Zoro who had clearly noticed. Fuck. Warmth spread across his face as he quickly looked elsewhere.

The Marimo was the first to speak after clearing his throat. “Thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you, cook.” The trainer let a small smile pull the corners of his lips upward. That strange feeling came back to Sanji’s stomach. Damnit. 

“Yeah, its cool. Just let me know what you need.” Sanji almost felt like now they were talking in some kind of code. Sanji turned to busy himself in the kitchen as remembered he needed to breathe.  
______

“Okay, well I’ll see you later?” Zoro stood there awkwardly holding the box waiting for an answer. What the fuck is wrong with me? He scolded himself. He knew what he was doing but, he couldn’t stop himself. It just felt right.

“Yeah, later.” The cook didn’t even meet his eyes. Zoro left the kitchen. He quickly made his way to his locker in the staff locker room on the same level as the gym. He stashed the protein making himself a shake as he walked out into the main area.  
He started setting up his room for his class. Today he’d be doing weight training.

A couple hours after his class had ended Zoro was still going at it. Hard. He was on his 15th set. But, he was trying to get through stuff in his mind.

This was going to get annoying quickly. Zoro trusted his instincts. They were telling him to pursue the cook. The cook. The lean-muscled, foul-mouthed blonde with the beautiful blue eyes. His eyes had a depth to them. Like an ocean that just kept going down. 

Zoro shook himself. What if the cook just admired him physically? The blonde had only said he could appreciate beauty anywhere. Surely, the blonde had more depth to him than to only admire physiques. Zoro liked the way the cook looked but, he also felt drawn to him in another way. He had felt it the first time they sparred. Like Sanji was someone he just wanted to be around. He sighed finishing his set. He made up his mind. He would chase the blonde and whatever the outcome he would accept.  
___________  
Sanji spent the day trying to think about anything but, the way he had caught the Marimo looking at him this morning. He looked at the time. It was 1400. The Marimo would be in the gym at the service desk right now. Not that it mattered to Sanji what the moss-head was doing.

Sanji finished putting the last of tonight’s dinner in marinade then put it in the fridge. He washed his hands and sighed looking around the kitchen. Jessica would be in charge of cooking dinner tonight so he could leave now. He could tell Jessica he could take care of it. He doubted she’d let him. Sanji cleaned the counters until they were immaculate. He polished all the water spots off the plates and silverware. He looked at the time again. Only an hour had gone by. He felt like he was losing his mind. He went to the back of the kitchen and took a long drag of his e-cigarette. He let the nicotine calm his restless nerves.

Why the fuck do I feel like this? Zoro is just a man. That’s it. A moss-for-brains, muscled man with a sweet smile and stormy grey eyes. Sanji was sure the marimo didn’t feel that way about men any way. He had only asked Sanji what he was into. He had said he valued their friendship.   
“Sorry, I just don’t want to ruin our friendship because I’m an idiot.”

“Well you are an idiot.” Sanji felt himself smile for a brief moment. “Maybe we can just avoid grappling the next time we spar.” He felt a bit pathetic telling his opponent that form of fighting was off limits but, at least this way he could avoid another panic attack and still fight with the Marimo.

“Yeah , okay.” Zoro nodded not questioning the request. Sanji wasn’t sure of the tone the Marimo had responded with. 

Sanji had replayed this conversation in his head a couple times now. Friends is what they were and that’s probably it. Sanji didn’t need anything more than friends anyway. He had too much of his own shit to deal with already. He didn’t need anyone else trying to fit his broken parts back together. He was fine with his broken parts. All ‘more than friends’ ever did was try to fix him. There wasn’t anymore fixing that could be done at this point. This slightly broken person that he was is who he had accepted himself to be. He wouldn’t push the Marimo into that role. 

He took another drag of his e-cigarette and decided to leave the haven of his kitchen. He was rounding the corner when he ran into a man.

“Watch where you're going, asshole.” The words flew from his mouth before he recognized the trainer.

“Well maybe you should watch where you’re going curly-brow.” The trainer crossed his arms.

“What are you doing back here anyway?” Sanji eyed the trainer who shifted a little uncomfortably at the question.

“I know you aren’t cooking dinner so I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out.” The trainer uncrossed his arms. He hadn’t looked at Sanji when he spouted out the sort-of question.

“Uh I-” Sanji had been caught off guard. Friends hung out. This was normal. Although he hadn’t ever imagined the marimo would seek him for a ‘hang out’. That was more Luffy or Usopp’s kinda thing. “Sure.” Was the only answer he could find.

The marimo seemed to relax a bit letting himself almost smile. Sanji’s stomach came back with that weird feeling.

“Good. Follow me. I want to show you something.” The marimo grabbed Sanji’s hand. It felt tingly and warm. He liked it. Just like the strange sudden hug from the night before Sanji found himself wanting to melt. The trainer led Sanji around the ship. Sanji was sure the Marimo was lost. They went up a few levels. Went right. Ended up at the same ladder well they had just come out of. They went down a few levels. Made a lot of turns. Went down a few more levels using the same ladder well again. All this time Sanji didn’t say anything. He just let the Marimo tote him around while holding his hand. Eventually they came to a dead end hallway that had a bay window.

“I knew I could find it again.” The moss-head puffed out his chest with pride. “This is what I wanted to show you.”   
Zoro pulled a blanket out of a small drawstring backpack he had been carrying and put in on the floor folding it a few times to make a small cushion. He sat on it motioning for Sanji to sit next to him. Sanji apprehensively sat next to him. They both looked out the window. This view was really something. Distant stars speckled the view. Deep blues, purples, and greens surrounding them. Some clusters of stars so dense they looked like clouds.  
____  
It was clear the cook was taking in the view. This was Zoro’s favorite place on the ship and for good reason. He watched the cook’s expression as he looked out the window. Zoro moved a bit closer to the cook so their shoulders were touching.

There is was. The electricity. Zoro could feel his heart beating a bit faster as he decided to hold the cook’s hand again. The cook tensed but, didn’t say anything. Zoro took this as a good sign. The cook kept looking forwards as Zoro gently pulled the cook’s hand into his lap. He held the cook’s hand palm up with one hand and caressed the palm with his other. The cook’s hands were soft. Well taken care of. Eventually he laced his fingers in with the cook’s after tracing every crease and looked up to see the cook had his head tilted back against the wall with his eyes closed. He looked relaxed. Zoro found himself smiling. He looked out the window and wondered where this would go if anywhere. He stopped thinking of that and decided to enjoy the moment. The cook’s head fell onto Zoro’s shoulder. He tensed but, only for a moment realizing the cook had nodded off into an afternoon nap. Zoro was okay with this. He had already felt like the cook might need more sleep.   
_____

Sanji woke up. His eyes flew open. He had been with the marimo. His head collided with the one that had been resting on his. Only then did he realize he had fallen asleep on the marimo’s shoulder and the marimo had fallen asleep resting his moss-head on Sanji’s. Shit. 

Well if this venture had taught him anything it was that the trainer had intentions to be ‘more than friends’. Sanji massaged the bridge of his nose and tried to be somewhat calm. He noticed his other hand was laced with the calloused, tan hand of the trainer. That’s how Sanji had dozed off to begin with. The marimo had been massaging his hand. It had just felt….. Nice. Nice was the only word Sanji could think to describe it. 

“You’re awake. Did you sleep okay?”

Sanji sighed deciding to be truthful. “Yeah, I slept better than I have in a while.” It was true. Most of his sleep was restless and plagued with unwanted images and scenes.

“I’m glad.” The man stretched beside him. “What time is it? I left my communicator in my quarters.” 

“1830. Did you want to grab dinner? Nobody is really meeting up today. The only person I didn’t set up a meal box for besides you was Brook.” Sanji was at war with himself. Part of him wanted the trainer to say no so Sanji could sort out what was going on the other part of him wanted to say yes. There wasn’t really a rational reason for him wanting this but, he did. Maybe to spend just a bit more time with the man.

“Yeah , I could go for some grub.” The man stood up and held out his hand to help Sanji up. “You’ll have to lead us though if you want to get there any time soon.” A flush crossed the man’s face from admitting he would get them lost.

“So you admit you’d get lost?” Sanji couldn’t help but to tease. It was a little bit ridiculous how bad his sense of direction was.

The man folded up their blanket and put it into his backpack. He looked at Sanji expectantly. Sanji let a small smile creep onto his face as he grabbed the trainer’s hand and led them.


	8. Chapter 8

“You know you could breathe in between bites.” Sanji suggested to the trainer.

“Breathin’s fer chumps.” Some crumbs fell from his mouth while he responded.

“You know you’re a pig.” Sanji took a bite of broccoli.

“M’jus tryin t’eat.” The marimo shoved more food into his mouth. He was almost as bad as Luffy. Maybe he’d be more receptive to being taught table manners though. Sanji smiled at the idea of all the men in their group exhibiting the same table manners he practiced.

Sanji looked at the man eating across from him still trying to figure out what was going on between them. Had it been a date? Or this is just what hang-outs were on Zoro’s planet? Men could platonically cuddle for a nap, right? 

The worst part about it was he wasn’t sure if it would be better just to let it lie or bring it up. Sure, Zoro seemed like a direct kind of man. He seemed like the kind of man who let actions speak louder than words. If Sanji was analyzing purely the actions between them he’d think they were at least on the path to becoming more than friends. Sanji wasn’t sure he was in a good place for that. It wouldn’t be fair to Zoro. It wouldn’t be fair to make him deal with all of Sanji’s problems. In fact he was sure that was the last thing a man like Zoro needed.

“Oi, Cook?” Sanji was pulled from his thoughts. The marimo was looking at him. Worry creasing his forehead.

“Yeah? Did you need something or are you just going to stare at me?” Sanji instantly recognized his own tone. 

“You have that look again.” The trainers grey eyes didn’t stray from Sanji’s. 

Neither of them said anything for a moment. Sanji was trying to figure out what look he was talking about. He didn’t have a look.

“I don’t know what look you’re talking about. That’s just my face.” Sanji broke eye contact.

“Okay well let's try this. What were you thinking about just a minute ago?” Zoro leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“None of your damn business, moss-for-brains.” Sanji was becoming irritated. One date and this shit head thought he deserved to know Sanji’s every thought? How dare he? How entitled was this man? Sanji took the last couple bites of his food and stood up with his tray.

“Where are you going?” The green haired man questioned.

“None of your business.” Sanji huffed and walked away.  
____  
Zoro slid his hand down his face in frustration. He had only wanted to know what was going on in the blonde’s stupid head. He genuinely wanted to know. Maybe he could have helped. Zoro had seen that look settle on the cook’s face. He still didn’t know what emotion the look was. All he knew is that is was a negative one. The look gave Zoro the feeling that the cook was a million light years away; descending into some dark pit that every time you fell into it was harder to climb back out. Zoro watched the cook walk away and toyed with the idea of following him but, decided against it before he made it worse. 

Today had been a victory after all. The cook had spent hours with him without arguing and they had even managed to be affectionate. They hadn’t kissed or anything but, there would be time for that. He’d do his best to move slow with Sanji.

Zoro got up to dispose of his trash and put his tray in the bin. He wasn’t sure what to do now that he wasn’t with the cook. He didn’t have any classes to teach tonight. Maybe he should try to learn more about the cook. He had decided to pursue him he might as well put in some effort. Zoro reached for his communicator only to realize he had left it in his room. Shit. How was he going to get anywhere? He stood there rubbing the back of his head trying to figure out which way he should go.

“Yohohoho~ Zoro it’s nice to see you!” Zoro turned to see the walking, talking, singing skeleton that is Brook. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to the sight. Robin had said he was from a planet where the beings didn’t have tangible forms and that Brook simply possessed the skeleton. Zoro shuddered at the idea.

“You have the night off too?” Zoro said as he smiled up at Brook.

“Why yes I do. No plans though. I was thinking maybe I’d write a song but, I haven’t been able to find the inspiration I need.” Brook cupped his own chin pensively. 

“I don’t have plans either but, I wouldn’t know how help with your lack of inspiration.” Zoro shrugged with his response.

“Well I was going to go by the staff bar and see if I could scrounge some up there.” The skeleton suggested.

“There is a bar? For staff?” Zoro’s mind was blown. How had NO ONE told him this? “I’m in.”

“Okay but, be careful. You don’t pay upfront they charge your paycheck. No one told me that my first time and when I got my pay check I couldn’t believe my eyes- not that I have any eyes! Yohohoho~” With that Brook led the way humming while taking long strides. Zoro did his best to remember which way they were going so he could come back here on his own.

When they arrived Zoro knew he wouldn’t be able to get back here with his communicator. How he didn’t think that there was place on this ship that sold booze was beyond him. It was a quiet little bar. One woman with short dark hair was bar tending. Zoro followed Brook up to the counter.

“Good evening, Shakky.” Brook greeted the woman.

“The Soul-King has made his way back finally?” Shakky took a drag of an e-cigarette and puffed the cloud out towards Brook.

“Of course. I was in need of some inspiration and I always seem to find some here.” Zoro wasn’t sure what Brook’s tone was. He just felt like maybe the two were talking about something else.

“Who’s your friend?” She turned her gaze to Zoro.

“This is Zoro.” Zoro gave an awkward wave with the introduction.

“Well Zoro, what can I get you?”

“Do you have sake? Or anything strong really?” If Zoro was going to drink he wanted to get drunk.

Shakky walked to the other side of the bar and pulled out a bottle of sake. “Just so you know it would be cheaper for you to buy the bottle than pay by the glass. You’re lucky you’re Brook’s friend otherwise you’d be paying by the glass.” Zoro sensed something a bit dangerous from the woman as she set a glass and the bottle down in front of Zoro. She held out a tablet with an outline of a hand on the screen. “This is how you pay. You scanning your hand authorizes the purchase.”

Zoro scanned his hand. This bar could work for him. It was quiet and the bartender didn’t seem too intrusive. Zoro drank his way through two bottles of sake when the alcohol hit him. He was working his way through a third when Brook had asked Shakky what the color of her panties were and she had apparently elected to just show him because she pulled Brook into a back room. Zoro didn’t even want to begin to imagine how that worked. He finished his third bottle but, Shakky still hadn’t returned to the bar. 

Tch. Zoro figured this was a good time to leave before he drank his whole paycheck away. He made his way out of the bar. Stumbling over his own feet every so often. He should go back to his room. He made random turns until he found a ladder well. He knew at least that he needed to go down from where he was now.

He made his way through the hatch into the ladder well and looked down the stairs. They seemed steeper than normal. He held onto the handrails and stepped down very carefully. After all he had fallen down these stairs before and it was not fun. Well, not so much fallen as been kicked. He smiled at the thought of the cook. Then he frowned at the thought of the cook. He just wanted to help the cook. He wanted those blue eyes to be at peace. He wanted the cook to never make that face like he had today. Kuina used to make that face. Why does the cook make that face? What reason could he have? Zoro took in a deep breath. He just wanted to know. He just wanted to help. Help the cook in a way he wasn’t able to with Kuina. Images of her face and the cook’s face melded together in Zoro’s cloudy mind.

He decided he had gone down enough stairs. He wasn’t really sure how long he had been descending but, it felt like forever. He looked up the ladder well and felt a wave of nausea rush over him as the stairs above him seemed to stretch, spin, and twist.

He quickly exited through the nearest hatch. This level looked like it could be where his quarters were. He stumbled through the hallway trying to remember which door was his. If any of these doors were his. The hallways seemed to shift on their own and it didn’t help that everything looked pretty much the same on levels where staff quarters were located.

He turned a corner and a man barreled into him by accident. Spilling whatever liquid he had been carrying all over Zoro and himself. Zoro’s foggy mind was still processing that he was wet when the large man grabbed a fistful of Zoro’s shirt.

“What’s the big idea? Can’t you see I was walking here.” Zoro looked up at the large, dark skinned man. He looked a little familiar.

“M’sorry…” Zoro smiled. “That your breath smells.” 

The man shook Zoro clearly becoming more frustrated. “You think you’re in a position to make jokes? Huh?!”

“Who needs to make jokes when your face already looks so funny?” Zoro hadn’t been looking for a fight but, he wouldn’t turn down the opportunity for one either. The man’s face was red with anger.

“You’re gonna pay for that, you little shit!” The man swung at Zoro but, Zoro kicked out of the man’s grip dodging the attack. The man kept swinging at Zoro and Zoro kept managing to dodge even in his inebriated state. The man was becoming more frustrated with each blow that missed. He was now just yelling in rage. He missed Zoro again and punched the metal bulkhead. “FUCK! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU.”

Zoro just laughed as the man came at him. The same wall the man had just punched a door opened up.

The blonde appeared. “PATTY IF YOU DON’T SHUT THE F- Zoro?!”

Zoro’s eyes stayed on the cooked just a second too long and the large man clocked him. Zoro slammed against the wall. Everything became fuzzier than it already was. Zoro desperately tried to regain his bearings. He could make out the cook blocking a couple blows and shouting at the man. The cook landed a swift kick to the man’s head. The man went down but, he was not out. He stood up holding the side of his head saying something about neither of them being worth his time and walked away.

“Zoro? Zoro are you with me?” Zoro focused on the cook now.

“Y-yeah.” The cook looked worried. Zoro didn’t want him to worry.

“Shit. You smell like booze. Have you been drinking?” Sanji’s visible blue eye seemed to be piercing into Zoro’s soul right now.

_________

“Yeah.” Zoro replied in a very low tone.

“Why the fuck are you here?” Sanji was just trying to process everything that was going on.

“Was tryin t’get to my room.” The moron replied with a shrug. Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Idiot, you’re on the floor above this one! Not that you’d be able to figure that out anyway! Why were you fighting Patty?” Sanji questioned the intoxicated man.

“He started it.” Sanji somehow found that hard to believe.

“Fine! Whatever. I don’t give a shit.” Sanji stood up from where he had been crouching next to the man. “Can you walk?”

“Think so.” Sanji held out a hand to help Zoro up. “You mad at me?”

“No. Now come on.” Sanji yanked Zoro to his feet.

“Liar.” Zoro pouted and Sanji took a deep breath. He took Zoro’s hand and started leading the way to Zoro’s quarters. Zoro snatched his hand back. 

“What are you doing, Moss-for-brains?” Sanji shoved his hands into the pockets on his pajama pants.

“I don’t wanna go to my room. It’s cold and empty.” Zoro broke eye contact with Sanji. Sanji felt like he was going to lose his goddamn mind.

“Where else are you going to go?” Sanji tried to apply some logic to the drunken man.

“Dunno.” The moss head crossed his arms.

UGH! Sanji let out a frustrated sigh. “Whatever, Not my problem. I am going back to bed.” He made his way towards his room and the marimo was was following. Sanji got to the door and scanned his hand. The door opened and he stepped inside and turned around to tell the marimo to fuck off. When he did the words died in his mouth. The marimo had a look on his face. Zoro looked like a lost puppy. This just wasn’t fair. Sanji just wanted to be angry but, how could he stay that way when the marimo looked like that? A slight pout on his lips, eyebrows knitted together, eyes down cast, and hugging one arm with the other.

Sanji didn’t want to but, he caved. He stepped to the side and let the marimo into his quarters. The marimo came in and examined all the things that occupied the small space. He looked at the pictures on the wall. He stopped on a group photo from Alabasta. The marimo smiled. Sanji wondered what he could be thinking.

“Marimo, what do you want? Its 0130 and I’m tired.” Sanji broke the silence.

The marimo grunted then said in a low voice. “Yeah, me too.” The marimo stripped off his shirt and kicked his shoes off and plopped onto Sanji’s bed.

“OI! What are you doing?” Sanji looked at the green haired man in disbelief.

“Goin to sleep.” The marimo stated matter of factly.

“Yeah, in MY bed!” The marimo answered with a look. Clearly the synapses were not firing in the trainer’s brain. “Where the hell am I supposed to sleep if you are in my bed?” Sanji tried this line of logic instead.

The marimo the clasped Sanji’s hand pulling him roughly into the small bed with him. “Right here.”

Sanji felt his face heat up as he tried to push away from the marimo. “I am not sleeping with you.”

It was too late the marimo had passed out holding him. Sanji eventually gave up on struggling for freedom and sighed in defeat. At least the marimo was warm. One night wouldn’t hurt.

_______

It was hot. Too hot. He was being held down and he couldn’t do anything about it. He tried to call for help but, no words left his mouth. That man smiling down at him at he pulled Sanji's clothes off. Sanji felt weak. Like he couldn’t control his own body. That bastard must have drugged at least one of the drinks he had bought Sanji. Sanji wanted to get away. He wanted to kick this bastard off of him. He could feel everything but, still couldn’t move.

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why can’t I move?’ The drug I gave you keeps you conscious so you can know the fear of being helpless. You can already feel it. I can tell by the look on your face.” The dark haired man smirked. He started unbuttoning his pants eyeing Sanji hungrily. “Don’t feel bad. I am a wolf after all. You are just prey.” He moved towards Sanji and pulled his legs apart. Sanji felt the man’s hard member press against his entrance. Sanji’s breath hitched in his throat.

______  
Zoro felt something moving beside him. He woke up to see it was the cook. He wasn’t sure how but, he was in bed with the cook. Zoro squinted in the dim light of the room. The cook didn’t look good. A sheen of sweat was on the blonde’s forehead. His face was flushed. He had a white knuckle grip on the sheets and he kept whimpering one word. “No.”

Zoro shifted a little so he was sitting up a bit more. Sanji was on the edge of the small bed. Zoro knew he must be having a nightmare of some sort. He felt at a loss. He wanted to help but, he wasn’t sure how. Are you supposed to wake people from nightmares? Zoro wasn’t entirely sure but, he didn’t want to see the cook this way.

He gave the cooks shoulder a light shake. “Oi, cook?” This didn’t have any effect. He shook a little harder this time and spoke a bit louder. “Cook, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

The cook jolted up opening his eyes. Sheer panic written on his face as his breathing slowly calmed down. His eyes made their way to Zoro. The cook apparently pulled his hair back to sleep.

“Are you okay?” Zoro sat all the way up now.

The blonde broke eye contact. “Yeah, just a nightmare.” He cleared his throat. That look was back. Zoro could tell whatever that nightmare was about was what caused the look. The look was a touchy subject.

“Did…. you want to talk about it?” Zoro tried tentatively.

The cook sighed in response. “How many goddamn times are you going to wake me up tonight, shitty marimo?” The cook waved his hand in front of the clock so he could read the time. 0430. Zoro knew he was just trying to change the subject.

“Sorry, I thought it would be better than whatever was going on in your dream.” Zoro’s lips had pulled into a flat line.

The cook sighed again. “Sorry.” He paused seemingly trying to find the words. “I have some shit that happened to me a while back. Sometimes I just get trapped by it, I guess.” The words were soft, vulnerable almost.

Zoro could tell it took a lot for the cook to even admit that much. “Well anytime you feel trapped, I’ll be here to pull you back out of it.” He felt like the words were perfect because he meant them. Wholeheartedly. The cook looked into Zoro’s eyes, a ghost of a smile gracing the blonde’s lips. The cook leaned toward Zoro pressing his lips lightly against Zoro’s. The cooks lips were soft and warm. Zoro placed his hand on the nape of the cook’s neck and held him close as he deepened the kiss. Pressing his lips a bit harder against the cook’s. The cook must have liked that because the cook parted his lips ever so slightly. 

This was enough to egg Zoro on. His tongue slipped out of his mouth and into the cook’s. Zoro slowly lowered them down till they were laying. The cook’s hands had made their way into Zoro’s hair while Zoro kissed down to Sanji’s jaw and followed it over to his ear. Zoro nipped at the man’s ear lobe softly and he heard a groan. Zoro’s hand wandered to Sanji’s hip where he squeezed.

At that something in the cook seemed to snap. The cook’s hand was on Zoro’s holding it tightly in place. He had gone rigid. Zoro moved to look the cook in the eye.

“Curly-brow?” Zoro questioned softly.

“Just,” The cook loosened his grip on Zoro’s hand. “I can’t. N-not tonight.” He looked ashamed.

“I understand. I can wait.” Zoro moved to hold the cook’s face gently. 

“I’m sorry.” He looked like he might cry.

“For what? Don’t be sorry. We’ll take it slow.” Zoro tried to reassure his partner.

The cook didn’t look convinced. “Yeah. Okay. Can we just go back to sleep?”

“Sure.” Zoro laid on his side back against the wall and pulled Sanji to be his little spoon. Zoro wondered if this contact was okay. He would be more careful to only do as much as the cook wanted from now on. This position must have been okay because Sanji slowly relaxed until he fell asleep. Only then did Zoro let himself drift off.


	9. Chapter 9

The marimo had been sleeping in Sanji’s bed every night for a week. They were starting to spend more of their free time together. When it was between meals and the marimo had time off he’d come up to the kitchen and hang out while Sanji meal prepped. Sanij was still trying to figure out how he’d let this happen. It’s not like they were even doing anything in Sanji’s bed. They just slept together.

Sanji wouldn’t admit it out loud but, this past week he’d gotten the best sleep he’d had in awhile. It scared Sanji. He wasn’t really sure what this was or where it was going or why the marimo had chosen him. There were too many unanswered questions. Too many uncertainties. Not that Zoro asked questions when Sanji would pull away because his mood had flipped. Zoro had been surprisingly patient.

Yet again they were laying in Sanji’s little bed. He pushed away from the marimo. “We can’t keep doing this. Sleeping in the same bed every night.” The marimo still tried to hold Sanji close.

“Why not? I just want to hold you.” Sanji stopped struggling against the marimo at this.

______

The cook had frozen. Zoro wasn’t sure whether it was because he was appalled by the idea or if it was because he was considering it. 

After a long moment the blonde let out a sigh still not moving closer to Zoro. Very softly the cook spoke. “Why?”

The question caught Zoro off guard a bit. “Do I need a reason? I-I just like being close…. To you anyway.”

“I just don’t understand what you want. No,” Sanji stopped for a moment. “I do understand what you want. I just don’t think I can give it to you.” Sanji moved out of Zoro’s grip and sat on the edge of the bed.

This didn’t make any sense to Zoro. What was the cook talking about? Zoro didn’t want anything from him. He just wanted to be with him. Be close to him. The cook didn’t have to give him anything. “Sanji, I-” Zoro paused carefully considering his next words. “I don’t know what goes on in your head all the time but, I like you. I know you’re fucked up but, I am too. I just…. Want to be with you.”

The cook had become very tense on the edge of his bed. “How can you say that? You don’t even know me. You don’t know where I am from. You don’t know what I’ve been through. You don’t need to deal with my shit.” The cook was resting his elbows on his knees and cradling his head in his hands.

“Of course I don’t need to deal with your shit. But, I want to. If your shit is a part of you then I want it.” Zoro said resolutely sitting up now placing his hand gently on Sanji’s shoulder. “Please come lay with me.”

He gave Sanji’s shoulder a light squeeze. Sanji turned and looked deep into Zoro’s eyes searching for an answer to some silent question. He found what he was looking for and with an unsure look upon his face laid down next to Zoro resting his head on Zoro’s chest with an arm across his abdomen. Zoro played with Sanji’s soft blonde hair. Every once in awhile he’d feel Sanji relax a little bit more until he heard a soft snore from the man. Zoro wasn’t far behind as he fell asleep with an arm wrapped around the cook. His cook.

______

“Wake the fuck up, Moss head!” Sanji shook the man. “You are gonna be late for teaching your damn class.”

The idiot finally grunted and stretched indicating he was actually awake. Sanji watched as the marimo stretched and flexed all of his perfectly carved muscles. He finally opened his eyes and caught Sanji in the act. Sanji turned around and pretended to fix his hair in the mirror only to notice his face was the same color as a tomato.

“Like what you see?” The trainer teased as he got out of bed.

“Shut the fuck up.” Sanji straightened out the jacket of his kitchen uniform. “I don’t even know why I let you sleep here.” The trainer’s arms snaked around Sanji’s waist from behind and he felt the marimo placing light kisses on his neck.

“It’s okay to admit you like me curly brow.” The marimo placed another kiss on Sanji’s neck.

Sanji would not fall victim to the marimo’s game. He worked hard to control his breathing although there wasn’t much he could do to get rid of the warmth on his face.

“In your dreams moss-for-brains. Get dressed. I have to go. Zeff is going to do an inspection of my kitchen and I need to get there much earlier than him.” He pushed the marimo’s arms off of him. “I’ll message you when it’s over and I have some free time.”

“Well I teach like five classes today and I’m covering the service desk twice so I probably won’t be able to hang out today.” The moss head said pulling a tank top on. It really showed off his arms.

“That’s fine. I was starting to get sick of your ass anyway.” Sanji stuffed his e-cigarette into his pocket. 

Sanji was about to step out his door when a strong hand caught his arm and whirled him around. Suddenly lips were against his. Warm and inviting. Sanji let himself sink into the kiss but, all too soon the moss-head pulled away. Sanji’s face felt hot.

“Oh hey Usopp.” The marimo said looking over Sanji’s shoulder.

Sanji froze. Everything stopped. Fuck. No one knew. No one. He hadn’t told anyone. Not even his beloved Robin that him and Zoro were a thing. What thing? He wasn’t even really sure. They hadn’t talked about it yet! He slowly turned to see a wide eyed Usopp.

Sanji cleared his throat. “Usopp.” That was all Sanji said before practically sprinting to the ladder well and up the stairs to the kitchen where he could hide forever.

When Sanji got into the kitchen his mind was in full panic mode. He tried to reason with himself. No one would give a shit. They were all adults here. His friends especially were accepting.

“Sanji! SANJI!?” Only then did Sanji realize Patty was trying to get his attention.

“Yes?” Sanji raised both his eyebrows and used a tone to make it seem like Patty was annoying him.

“Zeff will be here in a half hour. Breakfast is already prepped. The dishes are ready to go. Everyone’s uniforms are pressed. Is there anything else we need to do?” Sanji wouldn’t admit it out loud but, he was glad someone’s mind was present because he sure as hell wasn’t.

“Did we clean the grease out of the grill hood?” Sanji was starting to come up with a check list. Zeff was going to bitch anyway but, Sanji would be damned if he didn’t make it difficult for the geezer to find something to start off with.

“Of course we did. Are we amateurs?” Patty responded crossing his arms.

“Did we put the lock back on the booze cabinet?”

“Yes.”

“Did the floors get waxed?”

“YES.”

This continued for about fifteen minutes before Sanji had run down his entire mental check list.

“Okay so everyone look alive. If you have to piss go now. You’ve got five minutes before you need to be back here.” Sanji looked at the time on his communicator.  
There was a message from Zoro.

0512 Mosshead: Hey you didn’t even say bye? Wtf?

Sanji did not want to deal with this shit right now. He had other things to worry about. He put his communicator back in his pocket and decided to pretend he hadn’t looked at it at all.

Five minutes went by quickly. Everyone got lined up and ready. Zeff would be here soon. Zeff and Sanji went way back. The man had raised him after all but, it didn’t make him any less of an asshole.

Sanji took a deep breath as he turned to face the door. They heard footsteps approaching. The door swung open. A large man with a braided mustache and wooden leg stepped through the door. He paused for a moment; eyeing everyone.

“You all look like shit and you call yourselves cooks in one of MY kitchens?” Zeff started out a hint of a smile playing at the corners of the geezer’s mouth.

“You listen here old man! My cooks look great! As if I would ever allow them to look like shit!” Sanji responded.

“Then you’re setting the bar pretty damn low, eggplant.” It was clear the two were jesting with each other but, Sanji was sure later during the inspection Zeff would find something REAL to bitch about.

______

Zoro was doing his best not to walk around just being pissed off because of the cook but, he couldn’t fucking help it. They had had a good night and a good morning. Then he kissed the damn cook good bye and said hey to Usopp. Then the cook ran away. What the fuck? They had been together for a week now. Zoro hadn’t said anything to anyone but, he wasn’t hiding it either. They held hands all the fuckin time and kissed occasionally. Sure, not when they were with the group but, that hadn’t been intentional. At least not on Zoro’s end.

Zoro took a swig of his protein shake as he made his way to the gym. Maybe a day away WOULD be good for them. They had been spending almost an excessive amount of time together. He got to the room he’d be teaching kendo in today. He went ahead and stretched then started doing some light warm ups. Today was going to be busy but, not in a bad way.

“ZOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Zoro would recognize that idiots voice anywhere. The problem was anticipating where the boy would appear before barrelling into him. Zoro scanned the area several times till finally he saw the straw hat and an impossibly wide smile coming at him at what seemed like an unachievable speed. Zoro braced for impact.

The two men crashed into the back wall. “LUFFY GET THE HELL OFF OF ME! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!” Zoro was aggressively trying to untangle himself.

“Zoro! I needed to talk to you about something really important!” Zoro finally managed to shove Luffy off of him.

“What is it? Hurry up. I have to teach a class soon.” Zoro crossed his arms scowling at the younger man. 

“Well I heard you kissed Sanji.” Luffy’s tone was teasing.

“Yes and?” Zoro felt his cheeks heat up.

“And you like Sanji?”

“Yes.” Zoro’s face turned another shade of red.

“And Sanji likes you?”

“Probably.” Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose. “Luffy where is this going?”

“Well we couldn’t tell if Usopp was lying so I came to see.” Luffy’s smile grew even wider. “I’m glad it wasn’t a lie. I’m so happy for you guys. You guys are so cute how you argue like a old married couple all the time. Congratulations! Really!” Luffy was now rambling and patting Zoro on the back really hard repeatedly.

Zoro gave a light shove to Luffy’s chest. “Would you knock it off! We don’t need your blessing. Now go. I have to do real work.”

“Sorry. Geez. I was just trying to be nice.” Luffy’s face had turned from a too big smile to a deep pout. “I’ll see you later Mr.Grumpy-Gills.” With that he walked off and Zoro started his warm up over again.

What the hell had that been about? Usopp told everyone. That shouldn’t bother him. Zoro finished warming up as students started to arrive. At least he could just throw himself into work today.

_______

Zeff had inspected the kitchen and kitchen procedures for 4 hours before he was satisfied and left. Sanji finally had a chance to take a drag from his ecigarette. He let the nicotine ease some of his grated nerves.

Damn old geezer. The geezer had trained Sanji so if he found something he didn’t like he only had himself to blame. Sanji pulled out and powered on his communicator. The messages came pouring in.

0630 Nami<3: When were you going to tell me you and Zoro were dating?  
0631 Nami<3: I mean seriously. I thought we were closer.   
0712 Nami<3: Are you seriously going to ignore me?  
0913 Nami<3:I am happy for you. I am just hurt you wouldn’t tell me.  
0643 Robin<3: I knew you two would get together. Congratulations :)

0645 Franky: Dude we should go on a double date! I’m happy for you Zoro is a good man.

0847 Brook: I’m so happy for you two it makes me heart sing with joy….. If I only had a heart <3 yohohoh~

That was the end of them for now. Sanji felt like he couldn’t breathe. Of course Usopp couldn’t keep his damn mouth shut. It wasn’t anyone else’s business and besides that he should have let Sanji and the Marimo tell the group when they were ready. It was a dick move. Sanji couldn’t help but, notice there wasn’t any message from the perpetrator. Figures. He was probably cowering down stairs in his work shop.

The group finding out this way just felt wrong. Sanji tried to imagine what exactly had occurred. How this information had leaked out of Usopp’s mouth. It just made him seethe with rage. No matter. He would grill Usopp later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry guys things have been hectic and I thought I had a clear direction for this fic when I looked at my drafts for this chapter it was all over the place. Thank you for your patience. Hopefully I will get my crap together next week. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you think.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Sexual content ahead.

Zoro had just finished with his last class of the day. He had been actively ignoring his communicator all day although it had been going off quite a bit. Sanji had sent him breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Zoro couldn’t help but, smile about it. He had managed to sweat out the majority of his annoyance over the course of the day.

The fact that the group now knew that him and the cook were together didn’t bother him. It was how they found out that did. On top of that his boyfriend had looked completely mortified when one of their friends saw them kissing. The cook’s expression had been similar to that of a person when they realized their starship was being pulled into a black hole. Why did it matter if they knew?

Yes, the cook had said it wasn’t widely known that he found men and women attractive but, really? Who gave a shit? If you love someone you love someone.

Zoro physically and mentally froze. His breathing paused. Love? No. Fuck no. They had been together all of a week. Zoro would not allow himself to use that word. Not yet anyway.

Zoro made his way to the locker room so he could shower. It was late and the room was mostly empty. He sat down on the bench and read through his messages that he had been ignoring.

0645 Franky: Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper happy for you guys. We should go on a double date sometime!

0847 Brook: I’m so happy for you two it makes me heart sing with joy….. If I only had a heart <3 yohohoh~

1034 Luffy: Hey man. Sorry if I pissed you off I was just excited! I am sorry if you felt outed. I know that can be tough. If you want to talk I am here.

1557 Usopp: Hey haha I’m sorry I told everyone about you and Sanji. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.

1623 Usopp: Please don’t be mad at me. 

1715 Usopp: I really am sorry…

Zoro looked at his communicator in distaste. He would deal with Usopp later. He wasn’t angry. Well not anymore. He wasn’t happy with him either. He shoved the electronic contraption into his locker and stripped to his skivvies. He grabbed a towel, his toiletries, and put on his shower sandals. He made his way to the last shower stall in the room and pressed the button to close the door.

He stripped off his skivvies and turned on the water. The cold water felt good running across his skin. It felt like he was washing away all of his heat from the day. He just wasn’t sure how to feel right now. His mind felt cloudy as hell. 

He took a deep breath. With how the cook reacted to Usopp seeing them this morning, was this going to change their dynamic now? They had been pretty affectionate in public before just not in front of their friends.

Zoro felt a smile spread across his face. He thought about whispering things into Sanji’s ear making the blonde laugh and blush. His mind began to bubble up images of some of their make out sessions. Zoro pressing Sanji against the wall. Kissing the man’s neck in that tender spot just below the corner of his jaw. The way it made Sanji moan in delight. Not able to form actual words. Sanji’s hands running through Zoro’s hair. Zoro pressed a little harder against him. Both of their erections tenting their pants. Zoro lifted Sanji so the man could wrap his strong yet slender legs around him and grind. The friction had felt so damn good. Sanji wanted him. He knew he did.

Zoro moaned out loud then snapped back to reality. He looked down at the mess in his hand. Fuck. He needed to control himself. Zoro ran his hands under the water from the shower then turned the knob so the water would be freezing. He quickly washed himself, turned the water off, dried himself off, and wrapped the towel around his waist.

It wasn’t that Zoro was freaked out by fantasizing about Sanji. It was that he hadn’t been able to control himself. That could never happen around Sanji. Never. Zoro quickly got dressed and sent a message to Luffy.

2214 Are you awake?

2215 Luffy: Just barely. Torao just left for his shift in the medical ward. Want to get midrats?

Of course the kid would want to go get food.

2215 Yeah, why not? Meet you there.

_________

Sanji hadn’t heard from Zoro all day. He didn’t really want to message him though. Sanji wasn’t needy. He knew at least that the trainer had eaten all of his meals.

Sanji made his way back to his quarters. He made his way down the ladder well. He could hear someone’s navigation guiding them up the stairs. He kept making his way down. Eventually as rounded the corner he saw a tuft of familiar green hair. Geez. Sanji should have known the mosshead was the only one stupid enough to have to use navigation on the ship.

“Oi, Marimo!” The trainer looked up at him from his communicator and blushed. How cute.

“Cook, what the hell are you doing here? Your shift ended hours ago.”

“It’s my kitchen. I can stay as long as I like moss-for-brains.” Sanji descended to the same level as Zoro. “Why are you here?”

“I’m going to get a midnight snack with Luffy.” The marimo crossed his arms.

Sanji shook his head. “That bottomless pit. Why is he even awake?”

“Something to do with Law.” The trainer shrugged.

A silence fell between them. Sanji shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground. He cleared his throat. “So…” Sanji felt his face warm. “Will I see you later on then?”

He saw a grin spread across the marimo’s face. “Did you miss me, cook?”

“Fuck you. Nevermind.” Sanji moved to continue his descent to his room.

Sanji felt the marimo grab his arm. Then he was pressed against the wall. The marimo’s lips were on his own. They were hungry, aggressive kisses. Sanji was having a hard time keeping up. The marimo’s lips moved to his jaw then his neck. Sanji couldn’t help but, let a soft moan out. 

The marimo mumbled something against the skin of Sanji’s neck. Sanji had the try three times to get the words out of his mouth. “What did you say?”

The marimo pulled back and looked into Sanji’s eyes. “I said that I missed you.”

Sanji’s mouth dropped open a little. Where was this coming from?

Zoro cupped Sanji’s cheek. Running his thumb lightly over the blush of Sanji’s cheeks. This time Sanji leaned forward and kissed Zoro. Somehow Zoro’s urgency had seeped into Sanji because Sanji had Zoro pressed against the wall. One of Sanji’s hands pressing Zoro back against the wall the other running through Zoro’s green hair. Zoro’s lips parted and Sanji took advantage. He let his tongue pass through those parted lips and explore. Sanji then moved to dot Zoro’s jaw line with small kissed making his way to Zoro’s left ear. He took one of Zoro’s three earrings into his mouth tugging gently. Zoro let out a deep groan. 

“Oh hey! It’s you guys!” Both men jumped at the sudden third person. Then looked down to the next level and there stood Luffy.

Sanji’s face had to have been more red than any tomato he had ever cooked with. His face felt like a furnace. He looked back to Zoro who was sheet white in comparison. Neither said anything. Neither moved. Neither breathed.

“Why do you guys look so funny?” Luffy was smiling ear to ear as usual. As if he hadn’t seen anything.

Sanji was the first to reboot. Stepping away slightly from Zoro. “Hey Luffy. What are you doing here?”

“I am supposed to be meeting Zoro for some midnight meat!”

It seems that the mosshead’s brain thawed finally. “Yep I was on my way there when I ran into Sanji.”

“Oh I see. Sanji do you want some midnight meat too?”

“Uh no. I need to go shower and take care of a few things.” The marimo snickered next to him and Sanji could not for the life of him figure out what was so damn funny. He glared at him for moment. “I’ll see you guys later.” Sanji made his escape. It’s not like Luffy didn’t know they were together. That had been a pretty intimate moment between them for Luffy to walk in on. Sanji felt a secondary bout of blush creeping onto his face. He messaged Zoro.

2245 What was so damn funny, moss-for-brains?  
2245 Marimo: If I tell you, you will just get mad.  
2246 I’m mad now!  
2246 Marimo: Because we got interrupted? Or because you did miss me?  
2248 Fuck you.   
2248 I don’t need this shit. Are you coming over tonight?  
2249 Marimo: I thought you had some things to take care of?  
2250 -_-” Don’t come over tonight.  
2251 Marimo: Fine by me.

What an asshole. Why was he being like this all of a sudden? Sanji sighed as he got to his door. He went inside if his room. He gathered his stuff for his shower. One of the perks of being a head chef for one of the kitchens on the Sunny was that he had a small bathroom attached to his quarters. At least it was his and no one could bother him.

________

Zoro huffed as he angrily shoveled food into his mouth. Luffy was doing the same across the table from him. Dumb cook. He needed to learn to take a joke. Zoro was angry the cook had told him not come to his quarters tonight. Zoro would end up sleeping alone. Which wasn’t really that big of a deal. Well it sort of was if he was being honest. He liked sleeping in the cook’s bed with the cook.

Zoro finished his plate and looked at Luffy who was still going strong. A smile played at Zoro’s lips. Well at least he still had company for now.

Luffy eventually finished eating. “I’m soooooooooooo tired now. I think I am going to go back to bed.”

“Bed. Sounds like a plan.” Zoro got up and put his dirty tray in the receptacle.

He and Luffy made their way down the ladder well. 

Luffy broke the silence between them. “I’m sorry if I interrupted you guys.”

“What?!” Zoro blushed. “No, we were in the stairs. It’s not a big deal.”

“Are you sure? You both seemed kinda…..”

“I said it is fine.”

“Fine never means fine.” Luffy said resolutely.

“Now you’re just being annoying.”

“I just want you guys to be happy.” 

“Uh … thanks?”

The boy chuckled. “Usopp thinks you guys are going to murder him.”

“I haven’t really decided to be honest. Sanji hasn’t said a word about it. Not that we talked much today to begin with.”

Luffy frowned a little at that. “Well I hope you guys don’t kill him. That would be pretty lame even if he did fuck up.”

“I’m not gonna kill’em. I can’t guarantee the same from the cook.”

“We should all have breakfast tomorrow.” 

Zoro sighed. He knew there was no fighting it. “Fine.” 

Luffy’s quarters were a couple decks below Zoro’s so they bid each other goodnight at Zoro’s floor. He scanned his hand to open the door. The air smelled a bit stale. He had only briefly been in here to grab a few things in the past week. Zoro sat his bed and pulled off his boots and his shirt then laid back and stared at the ceiling. If he was in the cook’s room they’d likely be chatting about their days and what had annoyed them the most on that particular day.

Today the thing that annoyed Zoro the most was Luffy interrupting them in the ladder well. Not that the ladder well was a private space to begin with but, it had been an incredibly private moment.

Sanji had been more aggressive. He was hungry and Zoro could feel it. Zoro had promised they wouldn’t do anything Sanji didn’t want to and move at the pace the cook had set. When the cook had tried to initially brush by him the same image that had come to him during his shower ran through Zoro’s mind. In that moment all he had wanted was the cook. So he engaged and the cook had responded.

Zoro rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow. Damnit. He was fucking annoyed. He looked under his bed. He had stashed several bottle of various spirits under here after he had figured out where to buy them. You weren’t allowed to bring your own booze on the ship but, you could purchase it once you were here. What a rip off.

Zoro grabbed a bottle of whiskey. He took a few big gulps from the bottle. Maybe the alcohol would help his become calm enough for sleep. 

After two more bottles of liquor, sleep had still not found Zoro. He just kept tossing and turning. His buzzed mind kept returning to their meeting in the ladder well. 

It was like some video playing repeat but, he could feel the cooks breath on his skin. The cooks hands in his hair. He had had enough. 

He laid on his back and let the scene from earlier play out. The cooks lips against his. Then the light trail of kisses along his jaw. Zoro felt himself growing hard. He pulled his sweats down enough to let his member out. He reached for his nightstand and opened the drawer and pulled out some lotion. He tried not to think about his own hand stroking himself. He imagined his hot, blonde cook. The cooks soft lips sucking and nipping gently at his neck. His slender hands pumping Zoro’s dick. The image of the cook riding him wandered into Zoro’s mind. The cook moving up and down with a roll of his hips. The pace quickening. Zoro panted. He was close. Oh hey! It’s you guys! FUCK! What?!

Zoro immediately stopped what he was doing. He stared blankly at the ceiling. What the fuck? He couldn’t even take care of himself without being interrupted now? 

Zoro rolled to the edge of his bed and grabbed the first bottle of booze his hand came into contact with and chugged.

____  
Sanji was laying in his bed staring at the seconds tick by on his clock. It was about 0256 in the morning. Sanji hadn’t been able to fall asleep. He cursed himself. It had only been a week and the Marimo had already become an essential part of his sleep routine. Not to mention, Sanji felt chilly. He hadn’t remembered his room being so cold and quiet. Without that idiot’s snores his quarters seemed incredibly quiet. Sanji bet you could hear a spider fart it was so quiet. Maybe that was just his sleep deprived brain speaking. Regardless, Sanji turned in his bed again for probably the eighty-fifth time that night to try and find a comfortable position.

It was 0327 when he finally gave up at getting any kind of sleep. He got up and got dressed. Maybe he could find a new recipe in the library.

He made his way up to the kitchen and filled a large thermos with good coffee. He then made his way to the library. Taking several drags of his ecigarette along the way. When he got inside the large wooden doors he can’t say that he was surprised to see Robin sitting at her desk with several books with texts he wouldn’t have a hope of deciphering if he had a million years spread open.

She looked up in surprise then smiled warmly. “Sanji, it's rather late for you to be here. Or would it be more proper at this point to say early.”

“I was having some trouble sleeping.” He paused for a second. “I brought enough coffee to share.” He held up the thermos.

She chuckled. “My knight in shining armour. I think I left my mug in the back room.” She got up to go grab it. Sanji set the thermos down and went to go grab a couple of old cook books. He sat down at a desk across from Robin’s and turned on the desk lamp and opened his notebook.

Robin returned with her mug. It was stainless steel and had an impressive heart design carved into it. Franky had made it for her birthday last year. She poured herself a cup then poured Sanji a cup and placed it on his desk. He looked up at her. 

“Is there something you need help with, lovely?” Sanji said cordially.

“No, I was just wondering if you wanted to talk about the reason why you’re here instead of in bed right now.” She moved to sit back behind her desk across from Sanji.

“I can’t imagine a lovely lady like you wanting to hear about my life. What are you doing up? Even by your standards it’s late.” Sanji pointed out.

She finished her sip of coffee. “I am doing research on the next planet we will be visiting. There is a lot of controversy. Apparently people have been disappearing for centuries from there with no explanation.”

“Are you sure they aren’t just going off planet unannounced?” Sanji suggested.

“The thing that I find curious is on the same planet there are what appear to be sentient toys. The toys can walk and talk but, they can’t remember or rather can’t say where they come from.”

“And you think the missing people are the toys?” Sanji questioned.

“Who knows?” Robin shrugged and smiled. “Now, why are you really here Sanji?” She looked Sanji dead in the eye now.

“I told you I couldn’t sleep so I decided to come look at recipes.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

Robin’s eyes seemed like they were picking apart every movement Sanji made looking for a tell. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

“If you really want to know it’s the mosshead’s fault.”

“How is it Zoro’s fault that you can’t sleep Sanji?” 

She really was going to keep digging until she got a straight answer so Sanji sighed resigning himself to telling the whole story.

After he finished going through his whole day starting with Usopp seeing them. Then being outed. Then the hot and heavy moment in the ladder. Then being interrupted by none other than Luffy. Then Zoro just being an ass. Robin spoke.

“So you two haven’t had sex yet?”

Sanji blushed. “Uhm no.”

“Why not? You two clearly have a lot of sexual energy.”

Sanji’s face was quickly becoming a furnace again. “Well, I … just wasn’t ready.”

“I can understand that. For some people being vulnerable in that way is a matter of built trust.”

Sanji wasn’t sure how Robin was so intuitive. Franky was a lucky man. “In any case, thank you for listening to me whine.”

“Well you did bring me coffee.” Her smile made Sanji go weak in the knees.

Sanji looked at the time on his communicator. He had been talking to Robin for hours. Oh how time flies when you are with a beautiful lady.

“Well my breakfast shift starts in a half hour so I should get going. Thanks again Robin. Really.” He put his books back and grabbed the now empty thermos.

“Sanji before you go, I think you should just tell Zoro that you missed him.”

“Eh, I’ll consider it. I’ll see you in a few hours for breakfast.” Sanji turned to leave feeling like his soul had been replenished. It’s times like these he was glad for his close friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. This is like my third version of it. It took me a while to write the right version of it I suppose. I don’t want anything to feel rushed but, at the same time I don’t want to feel like time is dragging either. Please leave me a review and let me know how I am doing!


	11. Chapter 11

Sanji cooked breakfast for the group. Everyone gathered in the back room in the kitchen for a more private get together. He placed the last dish of the meal on the table which was what Luffy had really been waiting for. It was baked honey ham. The fucker immediately stretched across the table. Sanji kicked the leg of his chair out from under him and Luffy toppled.

“SANJI!”

“Ladies first. You know the rules. Now,” He turned to Robin and Nami “Would you ladies prefer coffee or tangerine juice?”

They both giggled at his usual antics. 

Robin answered first. “I had enough coffee earlier. Juice will be fine, thank you.”

Nami looked at him. “You already know I want the juice.” 

“Coming right up mademoiselles.” He stepped out and brought back a pitcher of juice and a coffee pot. He poured each girl a glass of juice. Then he looked at Zoro. “Juice or coffee?”

The trainer blushed a little. Clearly caught off guard. “Uh juice please.”

Sanji heard a couple snickers when the trainer said ‘please’. Sanji smiled though. Some of his manners must be rubbing off on the brute. He poured the trainer a glass and the man muttered a thank you. Sanji placed the pitcher in the middle of the table so whoever else wanted some could get some. He looked at the table and couldn’t help but, notice the group had left the seat next to Zoro open. As Sanji made his way to sit in the chair Zoro stood up and pulled it out for him. He cursed the heat he felt spreading across his cheeks. He sat in the chair and let Zoro scoot him in.

Sanji looked up to see everyone staring at the two of them. His face got hotter. Zoro sat down and started digging in. Paying no mind to the stares. Sanji followed suit and suddenly everyone was in motion. Eating. Talking. Laughing. Sanji had finished eating and was watching Luffy go in for his fourth round when he felt a warm hand on top of his. He looked over to see it was Zoro’s hand.

Zoro smiled at him. “Thanks for making breakfast it was delicious.”

Sanji blushed at the genuine compliment. “It’s no big deal.”

Sanji looked across the table in time to see Nami looking at him and his partner and whisper something into Robin’s ear. He couldn’t help but, feel paranoid. He tried to distract himself with other things. Brook talking about how phenomenal his performance was last night. Chopper discussing cases in the medical bay with Luffy’s boyfriend, Law. Franky was chatting excitedly with Luffy about ‘the chute system’ upgrades. His eyes then wandered to Usopp. Usopp quickly looked away from Sanji. He couldn’t help the scowl that crossed his face. He watched Usopp writhe under his stare until Zoro nudged him.

Sanji looked at Zoro exasperatedly. “Yes?”

Zoro gave him a look as if to say ‘c’mon you know what you were doing’ and crossed his arms.

“What?” Sanji played stupid.

Zoro said quietly “You have to let it go. It’s not like it matters anyway. These are our friends.”

Sanji sighed. He knew the mosshead was right. “Fine.” Sanji huffed and pretended to listen to Franky’s conversation about the garbage chutes.

Zoro cleared his throat. “Usopp good news. We have decided not to murder you.”

Usopp laughed nervously. “I’m glad. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was a big secret.”

Luffy threw his hands up in the air excitedly trying to say something with his mouth full of food.

“Luffy, finish eating and then speak. I refuse to help you if you choke.” Sanji crossed his arms and glared at the boy who just smiled and chuckled mouth still full of food.

Zoro grunted in response and turned his attentions elsewhere. It seemed that everyone had relaxed a little now that Usopp had been verbally forgiven for outing the two.

The rest of the meal passed quickly. People started filing out of the kitchen to start their days. Zoro had stayed behind to help Sanji clean up. Sanji was washing dishes and the Marimo was drying them. It was a comfortable silence. Sanji’s conversation with Robin flitted around his head. He handed the last spoon to Zoro. He wiped his hands off on a stray towel. He looked at Zoro who was clearly trying to make a spoon shine. A small smile found its way to his face.

“Hey.” He said quietly moving towards Zoro.

Zoro set down the spoon in a pile of silverware and turned to face Sanji. “Hey.”

Sanji placed his hands on the counter on either side of Zoro. “Thank you for helping.” Sanji leaned forward and kissed Zoro softly.

After they parted slightly Zoro responded with that smile that made Sanji melt a little. “Anytime, cook.”

Sanji stepped back a little and shoved hands in his pockets. He felt his face getting hot. 

“Spit it out cook. I know you want to say something.” Zoro crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows expectantly still smiling.

Sanji cleared his throat and mumbled “I did miss you yesterday.” He paused. “And last night.”

He was pulled into a warm hug all of a sudden. “I missed you too.” Sanji had to admit to himself he was expecting to be teased. How did Robin know? He pushed those thoughts elsewhere in his mind for the time being.

He breathed Zoro’s scent deeply. Mint shampoo and was Zoro wearing cologne? “Are you wearing cologne?”

“Yeah, why? You don’t like it?” Zoro stepped back and sniffed his shirt and muttered “Damn witch.”

“It smells nice. It’s just different.” Sanji shrugged and took a mental note of how cute Zoro was when he was flustered.

Zoro sighed. “Nami helped me pick it out a couple days ago. It’s in my room and I’m almost never there so I hadn’t worn it yet. If you don’t like it-” Sanji cut him off with a kiss.

“Shut up you idiot. Of course I like it.” Zoro blushed.

Sanji pulled Zoro into the backroom and they made out a little bit. Nothing intense like in the ladder well. After a while Zoro had to get going. He had to man the service desk in the gym. Sanji kissed him goodbye and closed the door to the kitchen behind him.

He moved around the main kitchen. Supervising the meal prep for lunch.

He walked past Patty and said nothing. He kept moving through the kitchen. Making sure the mixture of spices smelled right. He still said nothing. He couldn’t be more content right now. Everyone was performing perfectly.

On his third round Patty finally spoke up. “Sanji, are you with us today?”

“Of course. I’m right here in the same shitty kitchen as you, aren’t I?” Sanji retorted.

“You’re not…. Yelling today? It’s freaking everyone out a little.”

Sanji looked around and everyone was nodding in agreement. Sanji shook his head a little. “So let me get this straight. You prefer me yelling at you?”

“Well no. It’s not like your yelling makes anything better. We know what we are doing.”

Sanji’s brows furrowed. “So what do you want? You know what? Fuck it! Never mind. Everybody get back to fucking work. You all just wasted ten minutes. You better find a way to make up for it you bastards.”

Everyone grumbled a bit but, couldn’t keep the smiles from their faces with the return of normalcy.

Had Sanji really been acting strange? He just felt happy was all. He decided not to dwell on his behavior and do what was expected of him.

“You assholes better not burn any of my food otherwise it’ll end up being your dinner!”

______

Zoro knew he was smiling like an idiot at the damn service desk. He consciously made an effort to pull his face either into a scowl or just a neutral face at the very least. When he had that dumb smile plastered on his face people actually came up and asked him questions.

“What classes are being offered today?””How difficult is that class?””Is it for beginners?””What classes do you teach?””Are you single?””Where is the restroom?””Where is the cardio equipment?””Can you spot me, bro?”

Annoying. All of it. He didn’t care. He didn’t want to talk to these people but, he couldn’t stop thinking about the cook. The cook had missed him. The cook liked his cologne.The cook was his.

His thoughts went on like this in between customers. By the time his shift at the desk ended all he wanted to do was see the cook. He pulled out his communicator.

1342 Are you busy?

He paced around the different areas of the gym trying to look like he was doing something useful.

He looked at his communicator. Tch. Only fifteen damn minutes had gone by. No response from the cook. That answered that question. He decided to actually focus on his job. He helped a couple people correct their form in the weight room. He restocked the towels. He wiped down equipment not being used. Zoro huffed. Why was today going by so slowly?

Some relief came when it was time to teach his class. At least then he was instructing people. Correcting forms. Passing on some of his art. Today he was teaching an intermediate class. He made the students move through the basic forms anyway. Good technique always started from mastering the basics.

After the class was over a woman came up to him and tapped on his shoulder. He turned around and froze. No. That couldn’t be possible. His ears started to ring as his pulse picked up speed. His breath left him. 

Kuina.

He stumbled back. He clutched at the wall for support. How? Why? This wasn’t a possibility. He had said his goodbyes. He had mourned. His hearing was coming back.

“Sir? Sir, are you okay?” Kuina looked at him with concerned eyes.

“Kuina, h-how are you here?” Zoro felt dizzy. The room seemed to slant and then he was falling.

_______

It was long after lunch when Sanji had time to step into the back of the kitchen to get his nicotine fix. He took a long drag of his ecigarette. In a few hours he would be off shift and he could surprise Zoro with dinner. He allowed himself to smile. He pulled out his communicator. It had been buzzing in his pocket but, he had been busy each time and decided to check it when he had a chance but, that chance hadn’t come until now.

1342 Marimo: Are you busy?

1437 Law: Your boyfriend passed out at work. He is here.

1517 Chopper: I don’t know if Law let you know but, Zoro is here. He seems to have lost consciousness after teaching his class.

1520 Chopper: I should add that he is in a stable condition. Don’t worry I am watching him closely.

Sanji had dropped his ecigarette on the floor. It was now almost 1600. Sanji sprinted out of the kitchen. He couldn’t imagine why Zoro would pass out. He ran down the ladder well and to the infirmary.

He slammed the door open and Law was at his desk doing some in depth reading.

“Zoro is in a private room. He’s fine from what Chopper and I can tell. Two doors down on the left, lover-boy.” Law hadn’t even looked up. 

Nevermind. Sanji made his way to Zoro’s room and carefully opened the door. Chopper was on a stool next to the bed writing down some readings from the machines hooked up to Zoro. Sanji couldn’t believe his eyes. Zoro had seemed fine this morning. Was this some sort of virus?

Sanji moved closer to the bed. Zoro had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead and looked flushed. His eyes were moving under his eyelids. 

Sanji’s hand had naturally found Zoro’s. He only noticed when Zoro seemed to squeeze his hand.

He looked at Chopper to see Chopper had already been staring at him. “What happened?”

“We aren’t sure. We did all kinds of scans and tests. There was nothing conclusive. His brain scans showed a lot of activity in his limbic system.”

Sanji squeezed his eyes trying to remember to be patient. “Okay, what does that mean?”

“Oh, well the limbic system is closely attached to memories and dreams. We think maybe he’s reliving something traumatic.”

Sanji’s brow furrowed. “How do you know?”

“We don’t know for sure that is our best guess at this point. Right before he went unconscious he was reported calling a passenger by the wrong name,” Chopper looked through the notes on his tablet “Kuina is what he called her. Does that name mean anything to you?” 

____________

“You’ll have to do better than that if you want to beat me, Zoro.” Kuina smiled smugly.

“You’ve got the upper hand! You’re taller and have been training wayyyyyyyyyy longer than me!” He retorted his face growing hot with anger.

“If you keep making excuses like that you’ll never beat me.” She turned to leave.

Zoro rushed towards her. His shinai raised over his head for a strike. Kuina turned quickly. A loud crack could be heard around the dojo. That sound had been Kuina’s shinai breaking in half as it made contact with Zoro’s face.

“How dishonorable?! You would strike me with my back turned?” He had only just barely heard those words as he fell to the floor. Knocked unconscious by a girl.

A few hours later….. Zoro heard two voices.

“Kuina, you cannot continue this. It is not your fate to become a swordsman.”

“Why not?! Why can’t I choose my fate? What kind of planet is this that suppresses women?” 

“This is your HOME! Women are honored on this planet. You will marry and care for a family of your own. You already have been promised to a boy and you will fulfill your duty as a woman when you come of age.”

“That’s not what I want! I want to be strong! I want to be a fierce warrior! I want to see the galaxy someday. How small minded are you father to believe I would stay on this planet?” There were footsteps and a door being slammed shut.

Koshiro sighed heavily and left through a door in the other side of the room. Now that he was alone Zoro sat up.

He considered what he had just heard. Kuina would make a fine wife some day. Could she not see that? Surely her father would pick a fine man to arrange her with. One that would take care of her despite her hideous anger.

Zoro got up and went out the door Kuina had left through. He found her throwing rocks into a creek. He cleared his throat to get her attention.

“Get away from me, Zoro. I am not in the mood.” She threw another rock into the creek.

“Why are you so angry? You’ve got it made.” He crossed his arms.

“What the hell are you talking about?” She was facing away from him but, he could see her fists clenched at her side.

“Your father will pick a great guy for you to marry. Why are you so upset?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Zoro. Go away.”

“I know plenty.”

She turned and stalked up the bank and grabbed him by the shirt roughly. “You don’t know a thing! You men are all the same. I am a person! I just want to be free, Zoro!” Her voice broke at this and tears started to flow freely. “You are a man. You get to choose what you do. Where you will go. What your fate will be! I will be married off. Made to bear children with a stranger I don’t know. Then he will tell me what I can and cannot do till the day one of us dies!”

Zoro had never thought of it that way. From that perspective… That was the first time Kuina made that face. Distant. Isolated. Alone. Hopeless.

He pulled her close at a loss for words.

_____  
Sanji woke up in the chair next to Zoro’s bed that he had fallen asleep in. The noise he woke up to was Zoro waking up. He rushed to Zoro’s bedside.

“I’m so glad you woke up. The doctor’s couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Zoro?”

Zoro’s brow was furrowed. He looked around the room blankly then stared at Sanji for moment. “I-I saw… or I think I saw one of my friends aboard this ship.”

“Well… why would that have anything to do with anything?” Sanji was trying to understand what significance this had to the current situation.

“She died a long time ago.” Zoro looked at the ground. Pain flashed across his face briefly. “We were very close.”

“Kuina…” Sanji muttered out loud. This was starting to make sense but, to think Zoro was that shaken that he blacked out seemed impossible.

“How do you know that name?” Zoro was staring at him. His eyes seemed to be burning a hole through Sanji.

“You said it before you passed out. Chopper asked me if I knew the significance of it. You called a passenger named Tashigi by the name of Kuina right before you fell.”  
Zoro nodded slowly. “Of course it wasn’t her. That lady just looked exactly like her, Sanji.”

Sanji didn’t know how to respond. He wanted to comfort the trainer but, didn’t know how. Fuck! He had never been good at this sort of thing. He was a terrible boyfriend. He hadn’t even known Zoro had lost someone so close to him. He was always wrapped up in his own shit, when would he have had time to even ask about Zoro’s previous life? He’d been goddamn selfish. Zoro was always doting on him and his needs and he hadn’t figured out that Zoro needed him just as much.

____  
Zoro looked up from the blank space on the wall he had been staring at to see that face on Sanji.

Distant. Isolated. Alone. Hopeless.

His pulse quickened. No. He yanked Sanji toward his bed roughly. “Cook, what is going on in your mind right now?!”

Sanji looked confused. “Nothing, why? What’s wrong?”

Zoro slammed his fist on the table next to his bed. “Do NOT lie to me. I know something ugly is going on your head. I know that face you keep making and I. Will. Not. Lose. ANYONE ELSE!”

Sanji looked scared now and was trying to pull his arm out of Zoro’s vice like grip. Zoro realized he had lost control and let go of Sanji. Sanji moved out of reach massaging his arm where Zoro had grabbed him. Zoro immediately felt guilty.

“Sanji, I’m sorry. I-”His fists grabbed his blanket as he broke eye contact. Weak. Too weak to protect Sanji.

“It’s okay. I know you are hurting right now.” His eyes snapped back to where Sanji stood. He had his hands in his pockets and was looking at the floor. “It’s hard to lose someone you love. It’s even harder to let them go. I can’t imagine seeing them again after that.”

Zoro couldn’t help but, notice Sanji stayed out of his reach. Zoro sighed.

“I am going to tell Chopper you’re awake.” Sanji turned and left the room quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: SORRY SORRY SORRY I know. I know I am bad. There are just a lot of facets I want to portray in these characters. Sometimes I feel like I’ve got a full stove and I am trying to cook everything at once. Both Sanji and Zoro have issues. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter….. I will try to get the next one up soon because I too need a resolution after the stress of this chapter. I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. Half of this chapter has been read through like five times in the past week. The other half just flowed out of me tonight. Thank you so much for the reviews I have been getting. They are always welcome and helpful.


	12. Chapter 12

Sanji rubbed his arm where Zoro had grabbed him as he walked out to Chopper’s desk. He was sure Zoro hadn’t meant to hurt him. Zoro wasn’t that kind of guy. It had just been a fit. He had just woken up from being blacked out from emotional distress. Sanji had probably done something to set him off.

He reached Chopper’s desk. “He’s awake.” Sanji stated simply and quietly.

Chopper looked at him with glee. “Alright, I am going to go ask him some questions to see if I can confirm my diagnosis. If you’ll just wait out here,” Chopper paused “You know for Doctor patient confidentiality.”

Sanji nodded and sat in a chair in front of Chopper’s desk. He watched the little doctor walk down the hallway and enter Zoro’s room. Sanji rolled up his sleeve to look at his arm where Zoro had grabbed him. It was already starting to bruise.

He swallowed a thick lump that had formed in his throat. He wondered if you would be able to see the finger indentations like when Sanji had been attacked. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to control his breathing. Now was not the time nor the place to relive that. 

Sanji leaned forward and held his own head on either side. It was hard to pull air into his chest. He felt his palms becoming clammy. A hand on his shoulder made him jump.

He looked up to see Law had crouched in front of him and was eyeing him with concern. That was strange in itself. In the time Luffy had brought Law into their lives not once had he seen concern on the doctor’s face in such an earnest manner. Usually Chopper made up for that ten fold. That’s why they were always on shift together.

Law let go and moved away. “Sorry you looked like you needed someone to pull you out of your head.”

“I’m fine.” Sanji muttered.

“Luffy always tells me ‘fine never means fine.’ Which is annoying because I tell him I’m fine all the time but,” Law paused for a minute, “now I see what he means.” Law was studying him. Great.

“Do me a favor and shut the fuck up?” Could his mood get any worse?

“I’m inclined to let you go on with whatever you’re dealing with but, I know Luffy would be upset if I let one of his friends suffer.”

“I don’t have to listen to this. Let Zoro know I went to my quarters to shower and change.” Sanji got up to leave.

“If you leave now and don’t let me know what’s going on, I will tell Luffy.”

Sanji paused at the threat. He turned to look at Law. Law would do it in a heartbeat. That was the last fucking thing he wanted. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “What do you want?”

“Well you were just showing signs of a panic attack so why don’t we start there? You can tell me and I won’t tell anyone else. Doctor patient confidentiality and all.”

“But, you just said you would tell Luffy you ass.”

“Well I wasn’t treating you so while I was and am a doctor in that moment you weren’t my patient.” A sly smile grew on the doctor’s face.

“So you’re blackmailing me into treatment?”

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. I’d like to think I am just helping my boyfriend’s friend the best way I know how. Now, what was going on before I interrupted you?” Law had brought the conversation back to Sanji’s panic attack.

“I-I went through some stuff a while back and sometimes I relive it when certain things happen. They set me off.” Sanji stated not meeting Law’s amber eyes.

“Do you have strategies for dealing with your PTSD?”

Sanji didn’t like that label for his issue. Law was looking at him waiting for an answer. “Not really, no. I tend to just go somewhere and ride it out.”

Law nodded. “Would you like me to give you some strategies?”

Sanji tried to find a reason to say no, but he knew if he said yes this conversation would be over quicker. “Sure, whatever.”

“Here is one that I found helpful in the past. It is a distraction method. You count five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste. I think this one works well because it grounds you in the now. In what is real.” Law explained. Sanji had noticed his wording. A strategy Law had found helpful? He’d ponder that later.

Sanji nodded. The strategy actually made sense. He was expecting something like ‘keep a journal’ or ‘try breathing deeply’. He always hated that. ‘Breathe deeply’. What did you think he was trying to do?

“We’ll stick with that one for now. I would also recommend talking out the things you feel during your attacks but, that doesn’t seem likely right now.”

“I would just prefer not to.” Sanij said quietly. He realized some of his annoyance with the current situation had subsided. Law was genuinely trying to help even if it was under the guise of doing it for Luffy.

“That’s what I figured. You can always talk to me if you need to though. I am an actual doctor.” Law went and sat behind his desk. “Two last things; One, you should probably be honest with your partner about your trauma if you want that to last and two, I don’t like bread. Please stop putting it in my meals?”

Sanji smirked at the last one. “I will think about it. Please let Zoro know I went to shower and change. If you guys let him out will you have him message me?”

“Yeah. I am serious about the bread though!”

Sanji made his escape.

_____  
“Chopper, really I am fine!”

“People who are fine don’t suddenly pass out Zoro. You are not leaving this infirmary until I know that you are okay. If you would just tell me what happened, I might believe you.” Chopper was in his most human like form standing over Zoro. The doctor had shoved him back into bed twice now.

Zoro crossed his arms. “Nothing happened! The room got all slanted and then I woke up here!”

“I know you are lying Zoro. You won’t even look me in the eye!” The doctor called him out. “You know I won’t tell anyone else. Why are you being difficult?”

Zoro knew why. It was because that part of his history, that part of him, was the most private part of himself. He didn’t want to wave it around like some flag. It was painful. It made him vulnerable. That memory was his and his alone. He huffed. He looked Chopper in the eye with fierce determination. “That lady tapped my shoulder and I turned and got dizzy. I don’t know why. I tried to grab the wall but, it was too late. The room looked tilted and fuzzy and then I fell. Next thing I know I woke up here.”

Chopper’s brow furrowed. He knew Zoro was still lying but, he also knew he wasn’t going to get the real reason out of him. The doctor returned to his original form and added something to his notes on his tablet and left the room looking defeated.

Zoro felt a pang of guilt. Soon after Chopper left, Law walked in. He waited for Law to try and get a straight answer out of him but, Law just studied Zoro in silence.

“Yes?” Zoro questioned impatiently.

“You will be discharged in a couple hours. Sanji asked me to tell you he went to his room to shower and change. He also asked me to have you message him if there was any news.” Law stated.

“Thanks for letting me know.” Zoro responded.

“I saw the bruise on Sanji’s arm. I don’t know if it was intentional or not but, if I see signs of domestic abuse …” Law trailed off but, the look on his face said it all. Law turned and left the room.

Zoro was not scared of the doctor but, that was not the point. He would never intentionally hurt Sanji. It had been a one time mistake. It would not happen again. Zoro started to feel sick to his stomach. Had he really bruised Sanji? Fuck. He really hadn’t meant to hurt him. He just was trying to figure out that look. That damn look. It would always haunt him. He grabbed his communicator from his bedside table.

He wanted to out right apologize but, he knew it would mean more face to face.

1032 They said they would discharge me in a few hours.  
1034 Cook: That’s good news. I am glad you’re okay.   
1034 Can we meet up and talk?  
1037 Cook: I missed the breakfast shift, I need to work.

Zoro couldn’t tell if Sanji was avoiding him or if he genuinely did need to work. Probably a little of both were true. He sighed in defeat just as his communicator chirped.

1040 Cook: We could meet up after dinner. Around 2030?  
1040 Sounds good. I hope you have a good day at work.

_______  
Sanji was sitting on the edge of his bed with a towel wrapped around his waist staring at his communicator. He knew there was no reason to avoid Zoro. He wasn’t sure why he felt like he needed to. He hadn’t assaulted Sanji. He had only grabbed him. Once. That was it. Zoro up until today had always been gentle and mindful of Sanji. Even going so far as to cut grappling out of their sparring so Sanji could enjoy himself.

Sanji let out a deep sigh. He would talk to Zoro about it. That was the right thing to do. Instead of being a coward. Sanji paused for a moment in his thoughts to take note of something. Usually this would be the point that he would jump ship. End things because they had grown too complicated. This was the first time he felt like talking to one of his partners would be worth it. That it would actually make a difference.

He felt himself smile a little. Zoro was worth it.

Sanji got up and went into his bathroom. He turned the water on. He liked his showers piping hot. He knew cold showers were better for your skin and hair but, they were hardly relaxing. He started to wash himself. His thoughts fluttering around the fact that things might actually be okay. This is not a mentality that found him often but, he could definitely get used to this.

In three weeks time the Sunny would reach their next destination. A planet called Dressrosa. He was excited despite Robin’s remarks. Staff members would get a much needed reprieve from their jobs because passengers would be disembarking for a few weeks while the Sunny refueled and restocked.

He had heard mixed things about the planet. The creepy things Robin had told him made him feel a bit weary. He had heard good things too though. That the food was excellent. That the planet was known for the beautiful wildflowers that grew there.The last thing he had heard was of the beautiful and passionate women. He could only imagine.

His mind created images of beautiful women. Then his mind conjured another image. One of him and Zoro in a field of wildflowers. Zoro kissing him gently after placing a flower behind his ear. He should see if he can find things for him and Zoro to do on planet.

With that image, he exited the shower and got ready to go to work. Everything was going to be okay.  
________  
“Okay Zoro, you can go. But, you will be on limited duty at work for a week. That means you will only be working the service desk.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Zoro said with incredulous eyes.

“No, I am not fucking kidding you. We don’t know what caused your fainting spell so you have to take it easy. I also called Franky to escort you back to your quarters.” Chopper stated crossing his arms.

Zoro didn’t know which was more unbelievable: Chopper saying fucking or that Franky was supposed to be a responsible babysitter. Zoro gave resigned sigh. “Fine.” If it got him out of here who gave a shit?

He walked out of his room to see Franky yammering on about something to Law who looked like he would rather be jettisoned into the vacuum of space than listen to another word.

“Oi! Franky, let’s go.” He said moving quickly towards the hallway that led to the ladder well.

“Okay, bye Chopper. Bye Law.” Franky had to run a couple steps to catch up to Zoro.

They got into the ladder well and a rather tense silence had settled. Zoro was fuming about not being able to work. Franky was probably trying to figure out how to deal with Zoro’s mood.

Franky tried. “Hey man, we are all glad you are okay. You had us worried.”

Zoro muttered a thanks.

“How are you feeling?”

Zoro muttered fine.

“Do you know what caused it?”

“No.”

Franky’s mouth pressed into a straight line then turned into a smile. “So I have upgraded the chutes system. It’s a lot safer now. Luffy has been using it like crazy.”

“Luffy is also pretty much made out of rubber.”

Zoro appreciated that Franky was trying to help his mood. He made a conscious decision to let go of his anger for the time being as he had no appropriate outlet for it at the moment.

“Eh, you got me there. I guess I should move on to human testing next….. Want to be my guinea pig?” Franky asked. Zoro knew he was just messing around.

“Hell no, man. The only way you could get me back in that thing would be if Luffy dragged me in again.” Zoro said this with a hint of a laugh.

“That could be arranged. Then I could get a real opinion and that would be SUUUUUPER!”

Zoro shook his head as they made their way to his quarters. They reached the door and he turned to look at Franky. “Thanks man.”

“Dude, you know you need to thank Chopper too? He is only trying to be sure you’re okay.” Franky said seriously.

“You’re right. I’ll apologize for being an ass later. I’ve just had a lot on my mind.” Zoro explained.

“Well you can always talk to us. Any of us.”

“Dude, I know. Can we please just drop this for now?”

Franky gave him a look of disapproval but, did not argue. “See you later then.” Franky disappeared down the hallway and Zoro stepped into his quarters. He sighed heavily.

He was nervous to see Sanji later on. He knew he had crossed a line grabbing him like that. Sanji didn’t like being grabbed like that. He had learned to be careful in the way he touched Sanji.

Zoro wanted to slice through whoever had made Sanji feel that way to begin with. The idea of someone hurting Sanji made him shake with anger. Then the thought came around again. He had hurt Sanji though. The more he thought about how bad he had fucked up the more he shook with anger. He was pacing in his closet of a room to keep from punching the metal wall.

He wanted to go work out all of his frustration at the gym but, Chopper said to take it easy. He knew if he got caught working out Chopper would restrain him on bed rest.

He sat on the edge of his bed. He was going to lose his mind this way. He needed to find something to do until after dinner.

An hour later he found himself in the presence of a witch at the mall they had aboard the Sunny. Zoro hadn’t ever made his way here and for good reason. Everything was marked up because they knew they could get away with it. Passengers came to shop when they were bored so why not blow an excessive amount of money?

“Zoro you are going the wrong way. It’s a straight line to the shop I wanted to show you.” Nami tugged him towards a store that looked entirely too expensive.

“Why are we here?”

“Because you said you were bored. I’m doing you a favor.” She said matter of factly.

They entered a store where everything it seemed sparkled. Nami was flirting with the guy behind the counter. Zoro could tell she was already working some kind of an angle. He rolled his eyes and wondered around the shop looking at jewelry in glass cases.

Something caught his eye. Cuff links with some kind of blue gem stone that reminded him of the cook’s eyes. That would make a great gift for the cook. Zoro looked at the price and felt a piece of his soul leave his body. If he bought those right now that would be all the money he had saved up for when they get to the next planet. Maybe after the next planet he would buy them for the cook.

“You have good taste. Those sapphires are from a planet called Petit Jardin.”

“Jeez even the planet they are from sounds expensive.” Zoro muttered looking at the sales clerk.

“Oh yes it’s quite lux-”

The clerk was cut off by Nami. “Petit Jardin is a dangerous planet with dinosaur like creatures. It’s mostly forested except for the volcanos. Don’t let this guy fool you. Although with the risk involved in mining on that planet I can understand the price.”

“You sound like you’ve been there.” Zoro noted.

“Well Vivi and I spent some time there. I wanted to study the geography and magnetic poles of the planet. It all went great until I got bit by a bug and got sick.” The smile Nami had said it all. How much she missed that girl Zoro had never met.

The sales clerk cleared his throat. “So you won’t be making a purchase today, sir?”

“No, not today.” Zoro smiled back with an apologetic smile.

“You know if those are for Sanji, I could loan you the money.” Any tenderness from her nostalgia had vanished. The witch was back.

“No. I am not falling for that again! I let you loan me the money for that damn cologne and you tacked on a 300% interest you damn witch!” 

“Oh that’s right! Thanks for reminding me you already owe me money!”

Zoro grunted in frustration and left the store. He checked the time. He still had an hour and a half before the cook could meet up with him. He sniffed his shirt. Maybe he should shower and change. 

Nami had followed him out of the store with two bags in hand. She handed one of them to Zoro.

“I said I didn’t want to borrow any money from you.” He said as he refused to take the bag.

A strange look crossed Nami’s face as she continued holding it out to him. “Listen, don’t worry about it. Sanji deserves something nice. He’s been a lot happier since you guys got together. And,” She paused searching Zoro’s face for something. “You never know when life may tear you guys apart so you should treasure every minute you get.” She shoved the bag into his hands and walked away.

Zoro was left a little dumbfounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you for your feedback everybody! It is always encouraging! To my American readers happy turkey day! I hope you find some joy in it. To my non-american readers I hope you are having a great Thursday! Please feel free to leave a review and let me know how I am doing!


	13. Chapter 13

Sanji took off his apron and hung it up. Taking a puff of his ecigarette before he exited the kitchen. He was on his way to meet up with marimo in their meeting spot with the window.

Sanji had suggested it. He was basically bringing a picnic with him. He figured this was a good way to show the marimo that he was okay. That he had found a sense of normalcy again. Sanji made his way there slowly thinking about the first time Zoro had shown him that spot. They had made soooo many wrong turns.

Sanji found himself smiling like an idiot. He rounded the corner and the marimo had already set up a blanket on the floor and fallen asleep with his back against the wall. He leaned down close to Zoro’s ear.

“Marimo, wake up.”

Zoro grumbled something and didn’t move or really wake up. Sanji found himself at a crossroads. On the one hand he could kick the bastard awake. On the other hand….

Sanji opted for the second option. Sanji positioned himself in front of Zoro and made his move. He took Zoro’s earrings into his mouth sucking lightly on the lobe and ran a hand up Zoro’s inner thigh toward his crotch.  
____

Zoro’s eyes flipped open immediately as he tried to get hold on the moan that escaped him. He felt Sanji’s lips travel down the side of his neck as he rubbed Zoro through the fabric of his pants. He was getting hard.

“Sa-” His voice came out as a breathless whisper at first. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Sanji, what is going on?”

Sanji pulled back and smiled at him like the devil. “Well I tried to wake you up by calling your name but, all you did was grumble so I thought you’d prefer this over me kicking the shit out of you.” 

He admitted to himself that he did prefer being seduced over getting the shit kicked out of him. The only problem now all he wanted was more. 

____  
Sanji sat next to the marimo. Still smiling at his work. He pulled their food between them and started eating quietly. Enjoying the view.

After they had finished eating, Sanji found himself leaning on the marimo’s shoulder.

“Sanji?”

“Yes?”

“I am sorry about grabbing you earlier.”

“It’s okay. I know you were just upset.” Sanji replied on instinct.

The marimo clenched his fists. “It’s not okay. It’s not okay for anyone to grab you like that.”

“You had just woken up from some dream-coma thing with a dead friend, marimo. I am okay. It just bruised a bit but, it will fade away.” Sanji moved to look at Zoro’s face.

“Please don’t make excuses for me.” Zoro said not meeting Sanji’s eyes. He was being too hard on himself.

Sanji contemplated what to say next. He didn’t want to make the situation worse like he usually did with people. Zoro shouldn’t be so upset. It was him that had set Zoro off in the first place after all. If he hadn’t made that face Zoro wouldn’t have grabbed him and then Zoro wouldn’t feel so guilty now.

Sanji felt a hand cup his face lightly. He looked up to meet an intense gaze from Zoro. His brow furrowed.   
“Sanji, you are making that face again. Please. What is going on in your head?” Zoro pleaded

“It’s nothing.” Sanji averted his eyes.

“It’s not nothing.” Zoro sighed and grabbed Sanji’s hand gently. Zoro’s hands were warm around his own. “I just want to help.”

“Zoro, there’s nothing to help. This is just how I am.” Sanji pulled his hands away from Zoro’s.

“You keep making that face, Sanji. It makes me,” Zoro paused looking for the right words. This was not easy for him. “Seeing it on you makes a knot in my stomach.” Zoro swallowed. “The last person I knew that made that face… she… killed herself.”

Part of this was starting to make sense now. “Zoro, I’m not going to kill myself.” Sure, there was a time when Sanji had felt like that was his only escape but, he couldn’t ever let himself be that selfish.

They sat in silence for a while. Both searching the other for some sort of understanding. Zoro moved closer to Sanji and leaned forward. He gave Sanji the most gentle kiss. Their lips barely brushing. Sanji leaned forward and connected their lips again. He reached up to caress Zoro’s cheek.

That’s when he felt it. Zoro’s cheeks were wet. Sanji pulled back to look at Zoro. He… was crying.

“Zoro, I-” Sanji couldn’t find words right now. No part of him had ever imagined Zoro crying and couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he would cry.

“I’m afraid, Sanji. I can’t…” Zoro apparently was having problems with words too. “I can’t lose you. Ever. It would kill me. When you make that face. I just want to know what’s in your head.”

____  
What could he say to make Sanji understand. His life was important. It had value. There was no need for that look. He wanted Sanji to know there was no reason to become distant. He didn’t need to isolate himself. With Zoro around he would never be alone and nothing was ever hopeless.

Everything that look represented Zoro had an answer for. He couldn’t let that mindset take anyone else close to him. Sanji was a different person than Kuina. Zoro couldn’t help it though. The thought of Sanji’s life slipping through his fingers… it felt like his heart was being strangled.

He just wanted Sanji to understand. Why couldn’t he find the words? Instead he was sitting here letting tears fall.  
Sanji was staring at him dumbfounded. 

____

 

Sanji bit his lip. Zoro shouldn’t… he wasn’t that important. It just didn’t make any sense why Zoro should feel so strongly. The trainer would survive even if he didn’t have Sanji.

“Zoro, you can’t fix me.” Sanji felt something dark in the pit of his being creeping out.

“I understand that’s how you feel. I’m not trying to fix you. I just want to make things better for you. Please. Let me in.”

For the first time in a long time Sanji was able to see a hand through his own darkness. For the first time he felt like someone wasn’t going to fail at pulling him out of the darkness but, give him a hand to hold through the darkness until it subsided. So maybe, he wouldn’t be alone in it.

____  
The cook nodded silently. Zoro felt like an elephant had gotten up off his chest. Sanji seemed to understand what Zoro had meant.

He smiled and wiped the tears off his face. Fuck. He can’t believe he had cried. His emotions were just too strong to hold it back. It had gotten his message across though. The fact that Sanji, meant so much to him. He would take him any way he came. Help him any way he could.

Sanji yawned. He was probably tired. He had sat watch over Zoro while he was in the infirmary. 

“Do you want to go back to your room and sleep?”

A warm smile spread across Sanji’s face. “Yeah, I’m pretty beat.”

They stood up and packed up their things. Sanji led the way to his room. Sanji opened the door to his room. They both stepped inside. They silently got ready for bed. Sanji opted to wear boxers alone for pajamas tonight. Zoro was in just a soft, white, cotton undershirt and his boxers as well.

Zoro laid down first. Sanji crawled in next to him facing him. Zoro’s eyes wandered over Sanji’s face. He moved forward and kissed the blonde softly; running his fingers through his blonde hair.

The blonde moved closer putting a hand on Zoro’s waist. Zoro ran his tongue along Sanji’s lip. The cook parted his lips giving him permission to enter. Zoro deepened the kiss letting his tongue explore every part of Sanji’s mouth. He pulled back a little and kissed Sanji’s jaw line to Sanji’s neck where he nipped and sucked gently. The blonde moaned quietly gripping the fabric of Zoro’s shirt.

Zoro pulled back and looked into Sanji’s deep blue eyes. Both of them were hungry with physical want. Their emotions had run ragged today. They were ready to lose themselves in each other. 

Zoro went back to Sanji’s neck where he had left off but, felt more fevered now. He could feel Sanji’s hands tugging at his shirt. He took it off. He felt Sanji’s hands tracing over his sculpted muscles. They found his way to Zoro’s hair as Zoro kissed down Sanji’s neck to his chest. He took one of Sanji’s nipples into his mouth. He suckled at it until he heard to blonde moan in pleasure the moved to the other waiting for the same result.

He moved his lips lower still. When he made it to Sanji’s happy trail he looked up to meet blue eyes. Sanji’s face was flushed and it was beautiful. Zoro laid soft kisses along the hem of Sanji’s boxers as ran a hand up Sanji’s thigh. Sanji’s boxers were tented with his erection. Zoro pulled Sanji’s boxers down. He blew over the head and Sanji squirmed a bit.

Zoro licked from the base to the tip and watched Sanji’s reaction. Sanji moaned his hands gripping the sheets of the bed. He took the whole of it into his mouth. He could taste Sanji’s precum. He started moving his head up and down. Concentrating on the sounds of pleasure from his partner. He knew Sanji was getting close when his hips started bucking.

“Zo,”Sanji moaned “Zoro, hold-uhhh!-hold on.”

Zoro stopped and looked at Sanji.

“Come here.” Sanji’s gaze was intense.

“You're so close though.” Zoro ran his finger up Sanji’s member to hear the blonde moan.

“Please.” Sanji said breathlessly.

Zoro obliged moving up in the bed.

Sanji swallowed. “I want...you..”

“At this point I would hope so.” Zoro finished his sentence with a smirk.

“No, I-I want you… in me.” Sanji’s face turned even more red than it was.

“Sanji, we don’t have to rush into anything.” Zoro felt a little uncomfortable. He knew how Sanji could be. Especially in situations where it seemed like someone was physically in control of him.

“Zoro,” Sanji looked dead into his eyes. “I trust you.”

Zoro understood. Sanji reached into his nightstand and grabbed a small bottle of lube.

_____  
This was going to be it. Sanji trusted Zoro. He hadn’t been with anyone in this way since that night years ago. Something about Zoro though... Sanji just knew it would be alright. Zoro warmed the lube up and spread a small amount around Sanji’s entrance. He leaned down and kissed Sanji as he inserted a finger. Sanji felt himself clench at first but, Zoro was doing his best to help him relax.

Before Sanji knew it Zoro had three fingers inside of him. Sanji moaned. He was ready. Zoro pulled his fingers out and spread lube down his own neglected member. Sanji made a mental note to repay the amazing blow job back later. Zoro positioned himself between Sanji’s legs and met Sanji’s eyes. Sanji could see the want in them. 

Zoro spoke, his voice was deep and dripping with desire. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“Yes.” Sanji all but, breathed the word.

Zoro slowly pressed into him. Allowing Sanji to adjust. When Sanji relaxed Zoro started to move slowly. Almost… reserved. There was a mix of pain with the pleasure. How could he even put words on the feeling that had welled up inside of him? Ecstasy, maybe. 

Sanji managed to pant out a name and a word. “Zoro, faster.” 

Zoro obeyed the command picking up his pace. Some animalistic groan escaped the green haired man as Sanji’s fingers gripped at his back. Zoro adjusted his angle slightly and Sanji could swear he saw stars. That spot. Sanji wasn’t even sure what noises were escaping him. He didn’t care. He was getting close. He felt his whole body clench as his seed spilled out onto his stomach.

Zoro only lasted a bit after that. After that, Zoro laid next to him. Sanji felt dizzy but, in a good way. He grabbed his discarded boxers and wiped off his stomach. He sighed he was going to need to shower and change his sheets. He looked over at his green haired lover to see the man was smiling at him with some goofy look.

“What?”

“If I say it out loud you won’t like it.”

“C’mon just tell me.”  
“I was just thinking about how beautiful you look right now.”

Sanji blushed. He wasn’t used to compliments much less someone calling him beautiful. Zoro’s smile had somehow become even more goofy. Sanji looked away.

“You’re just high on sex right now. Give it an hour and you won’t be saying that.”

Zoro moved over in the bed and was now over top of Sanji. He brushed a stray blonde hair out of Sanji’s face. Sanji felt his face heat up ten fold.

“That’s not true. After I met you the first time, all I could think about was your beautiful blue eyes. Even though I was mad as hell at you for pushing me down the stairs.”

Sanji smiled at the memory of the marimo’s face as he fell down the stairs. “Yeah, whatever marimo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: *Blushes wildly* Okay okay I know! But, it was about time okay?! Thank you so much for reading as always. Please comment and let me know how I am doing. I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. I was up late writing this last night and only did one read through before posting it.


	14. Chapter 14

Sticky. The first thought that came to Sanji’s mind was sticky. He felt sticky. He shifted a little in his bed. He became aware of an iron bar trapping him in place. The iron bar squeezed him a bit when he shifted. No, it wasn’t an iron bar. It was an arm. Zoro’s arm. 

Sanji’s eyes flipped open. The Marimo had fallen asleep with his arm around Sanji and now Sanji was consequently trapped. 

Memories of the night before flooded Sanji’s mind. He felt his face grow hot. They had gone a few rounds last night then Sanji had fallen asleep to the Marimo humming some tune from his home planet. Sanji tried to remember what song it was or how it had gone but, it wouldn’t return to him. He had been in too much of a daze from pleasure at the time to take note of it.

Sanji tried to move again. It was time to get up and shower. If he was being honest he just felt gross and smelly after spending the night sleeping in the results of their sex.

Zoro’s arm tightened. Sanji huffed. Fine. He was just going to have to wake Zoro up early on his day off. 

“Oi, Marimo, I need to shower. Let go.” Sanji tapped his arm.

Zoro’s response was a groan with no sign of movement. Sanji was less than surprised. The man could have been a log in a past life.

“MARIMO! C’mon don’t make me use dirty tactics to get you off me. You don’t have to get up. I just need you to let go.”

In a voice rough with drowsiness, Zoro responded “I think I’d like to see these dirty tactics.”

Sanji rolled his eyes but, couldn’t help but, let a smile cross his face. He moved closer to the marimo and pressed his lips against the marimo’s. Sanji kept making out with the marimo until he was straddling him. The marimo’s arms weren’t wrapped around Sanji anymore just resting lightly on his hips. Sanji moved to kiss down Zoro’s jaw line and whispered into his ear “I win.”

Sanji promptly got out of bed before the marimo could capture him again.

_________

The cook had made out with him to win their game. If he was being honest with himself, Zoro felt a little hot and bothered. He watched the cook grab his bathroom things. They had fallen asleep naked the night before. Zoro’s eyes took in every part of the cooks body. Damn. 

The blonde didn’t have bulk muscle like Zoro but, he did have lean muscle. To see it flex and stretch as he moved around the small space was beautiful. 

The cook turned to see Zoro staring at him. Zoro felt himself blush a little but, didn’t look away. The cook turned tomato red and covered himself.

“Stop staring Marimo!”

“Why? I’ve seen it all already.” Zoro propped himself up on one arm in bed.

“It’s fucking weird. I am not a piece of meat.” He had his hands on his hips now. It looked kind of cute.

“I can’t help it!” Zoro let a mischievous smile creep over his face.

“You pride yourself on having the control of a great warrior! Stop staring!”

Zoro sighed. “I thought you were going to shower anyway. You’re the one who keeps standing here naked.”

Sanji’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed the rest of his shower stuff and went into the bathroom and closed the door. Zoro heard the water turn on. He laid back for a minute smiling to himself.  
Last night had been amazing to say the least. He felt so glad that they had connected the way that they had. He couldn’t find a good way to explain it. Even to himself. He just felt like they had reached a level of understanding that they hadn’t had before.

Zoro decided to do something nice for the cook. He knew the cook was a bit of a neat freak so Zoro got out of bed and pulled on his sweat pants. He found the cooks spare sheets. He pulled the ones from last night off the bed and made it up with the new ones nice and neat. He wasn’t sure if Sanji used the laundry service that was offered or if he washed them himself in the laundry mat on board. Zoro just stuffed the sheets into Sanji’s dirty laundry bin.

He debated on just leaving and going to shower without saying anything. No, he didn’t want to do that. He cracked open the door to the bathroom.

“Oi, Cook?”

“What you can’t leave me alone for ten minutes?” The cook shouted from the shower.

“I just wanted to let you know I am leaving to go get cleaned up.”

“Oh,” The cook paused. “Uh, okay… Yeah, I’ll see you at breakfast then?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, later.”

Zoro closed the door and found his shirt and shoes. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out where his boxers and socks had gone.

He looked at the time. He had two hours till breakfast?! The cook had woken him up on the cook’s schedule so it made sense it was so damn early. He left Sanji’s room and made his way towards his own.

Zoro found himself sighing. He had planned on just going and taking a quick shower but, two hours to kill…

He could go work out if no one caught him. Chopper’s warning ringing in his ears. He would risk it. Just some light training wouldn’t hurt. He’d just stick to bodyweight exercises for the time being. He went by his room to change then made his way to the gym.

He did a quick warm up and went through his basic kendo forms. If you don’t hone the basics you will never get any better.

_______  
Sanji stepped out of the bathroom and looked around his now empty room. He felt a little disappointed that Zoro had left but, it made sense. He noticed that Zoro had changed his sheets and made his bed for him.

That brought a small smile back. Sanji quickly got dressed and fixed his hair. He checked the time. If he left now he would make it to the kitchen early. He made his way out of his room and up the ladder well. 

His thoughts swam around Zoro. He ran into something unexpected. He looked up and saw the blue-haired cyborg standing there.

“Hey bro!”

“Good morning, Franky.”

“What’s up man?”

“I’m trying to get to the kitchen to make breakfast, if you move your metal ass out of the way.”

“Okay man. No need to get feisty first thing in the morning. Have you seen Zoro? I need to ask him about something and he’s not responding to my messages.”

Sanji’s face betrayed him and turned red. “Uh, yeah I’ve seen him.”

Franky picked up on it apparently. “Oh I bet you have.” A smile grew across the cyborg’s face. “I bet I can guess what you were doing when you ‘saw’ him.”

“Franky, if you don’t shut the fuck up I am going to shove my foot so far up your mechanical ass…”

“Oh, we are talking about shoving things up asses now, are we?”

Sanji felt his face go a shade redder.

“Haha I’m just giving you a hard time. I’m glad you guys finally hooked up.”

“How would you even know that we hadn’t hooked up?” If the marimo had said something to the rest of the group Sanji was going to murder him.

“Dude, you could practically feel the tension between you two every time you guys are in the same room.” Franky crossed his arms and gave Sanji a knowing look.

“Oh.” Was all Sanji managed to say in response.  
“Yeah, but now it shouldn’t be as bad.”

Sanji nodded his mind still wondering how many of the others knew that they hadn’t been … together in that way.

“Dude, don’t worry about it!” Franky gave Sanji a hard pat on the back. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you at breakfast!” The cyborg moved past Sanji and went on his merry way down the ladder well.

Sanji shook himself and made his way up to the kitchen. Cooking would keep his mind off this new worry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am sorry for making you all wait and I’m sorry it’s a shorter chapter. I’m not abandoning you all I’ve just had a rough go of it lately and am just getting back to feeling normal. I don’t really want to get into the specifics of my personal life but, just know I am doing better! I am going to try to work on the next chapter during the week so I can catch up. I know some of you want to comment and say don’t worry about it and that its fine but, It’s just as much for me as it is for you. Thank you for reading. Please leave a review and let me know how I am doing.


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